As the SARS-CoV-2 rampages a second time across the UK and Europe, I am saddened to see so many of our countryfolk disregard the rules on face-coverings and social-distancing; visiting a hospital in south London, two weeks ago, half the hospital medics I saw were either wearing face-masks inappropriately or not wearing face-masks at all. How can this be we know and understand what we must do, so why do we disregard the rules? Had we all worn face-coverings these past six months, the nation would be free of coronavirus disease. 95% of those who have contracted coronavirus, 95% of those who have died, were infected by someone not wearing a mask, or by a family member infected by someone not wearing a mask.
But, still people say: ‘I’m not afraid, I shall not wear a
face mask today.’
The problem is that we see face-masks as Personal Protective
Equipment, not as People Protective Equipment. I wear a face mask not to protect myself, but
to protect others, in case I am one of the million silent carriers in the land.
The words we say, the words that governments use and that
the media repeat, conjure images in our minds: images that help manage the way
we think. In spring 2020 the western
world was obsessed with the phrase PPE, personal protective equipment; but,
that phrase leads to wrong thinking, images in our head of the face-mask that I
am wearing, the face mask that they are wearing. We knew that face-masks are for the public
good, but our mental image and our thoughts was of a face-mask that is personal
and private; we see face-masks as people-protective equipment; in short,
we see face-masks as defensive, like a bullet-proof vest, so we fail to
see the wearing of face masks as part of the nation’s armoury in the war
against this viral enemy.
We folk feel free to relax our guard when the enemy seems
not to be about. The heroes amongst
throw away the face-mask and boast that they are not afraid, that they shall
not wear a mask today.
It is said that nought-point-seven million UK citizens have
contracted the virus, and that forty-five-thousand of our countryfolk have died
of the disease. Of those who have died,
forty-three-thousand, ninety-five percent, were infected by someone not wearing
a face covering, or by a family member who was infected by someone not wearing
a face covering. Wearing a face-mask
protects others, it is people-protective equipment; and if folk in their
twenty-somethings are the greatest spreaders of this contagion, it is the
twenty-somethings who should be most diligent in wearing a mask.
When terrorist gunmen open random fire in a crowded street,
the instinct is to run away to save ourselves, but there are always brave folk,
often those in uniform, who run towards the gunmen, defiantly determined to
protect others. Those who wear a
face-mask are the heroes, for it is they are facing-down the virus, it is their
actions which protects others.
Covid is a wicked virus for it hides in ambush. Any one of us could be unknowingly carrying
the virus in our oral mucus. Any one of
us could be unwittingly contagious, spraying virus-infested micro-droplets with
our every outbreath, infecting everyone nearby, and scattering the virus. Wearing a face mask prevents us causing
such-and-such a person’s death; not wearing a face-mask is akin to murder. Had we all worn face-masks these past six
months, Coronavirus would now be history.
Wearing a face-mask provides some personal protection, but
virus particles dispersed on tiny particles of dust can still get through, and
viral particles can touch uncovered skin, particularly on our hands when we
touch an infested surface; but a face-mask provides excellent people
protection. We must all assume that we
ourselves are contagious — for none can say they’re not — and we must wear a
face mask for each other’s sake. We need
to see PPE as people-protective equipment.
