Man About Canton: Wear a Mask or Not?

Did you know …

MAC recently read Canton’s Beverly Beckham’s column in the Boston Globe entitled “Vaccinated, but I still feel like I’m stuck in pandemic purgatory.” In the United States, it seems each state has its own COVID-19 rules and restrictions. Beckham spent time in Florida and said “masks required” too often meant “masks suggested.” She said about Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, “There was live music; the bars were packed with people drinking and singing and dancing, and I thought, it feels just like before! Only it isn’t before, and it isn’t, not yet, after. She went on to say, “The United States is one country, but we are not united even when it comes to a plague that has killed more than half a million of us.”

MAC also recently spent over two weeks in Florida where the beaches were wide open with no masks in sight.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said, “In small groups, particularly with people who were vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask.” Yet in “Mask-achusetts,” everyone is required to wear a mask at all times, including while participating in sports like running track (which MAC thinks is ridiculous), baseball, softball and basketball, even if vaccinated. MAC plays softball in Massachusetts and is required to wear a face mask at all times, even alone out in the open field. But in the south, masks are not required. Why the difference?

There must be some positive reinforcement for receiving the vaccination because if there’s not, what is the point of the vaccination? People getting vaccinated (MAC has been fully vaccinated) believe they are doing it so that they do not contract the virus. Yet in Massachusetts, we are being told that even after being vaccinated, everything you had been doing as an unvaccinated person, you must still continue to do. So if the vaccine makes you immune, what is the point of all the measures we are still taking? When will masks be unnecessary? What scientific studies do these mandates rely on? Despite the fact that more than half of all adults in the United States have been vaccinated, almost all stores and supermarkets still have mask and distancing requirements. (See Select Board story for the latest Mass. policy updates.)

The governor of New Hampshire is dropping that state’s face covering edict and has gone mask-free. To date, 25 percent of New Hampshire residents have been fully vaccinated. The state has also offered vaccinations to anybody from any state (an appointment is still required). Why not Massachusetts? Some doctors have said that the vaccine will mostly tame the pandemic from this point forward. MAC can only hope that this is true. In Massachusetts 30 percent of adults have been fully vaccinated, which amounts to over 2 million people, but, as of the date of this writing, face coverings are still mandated. When will it end?

According to the CDC, in the United States, more than 138 million people 18 or older, or 53.6 percent of the total adult population, had received at least one vaccination dose as of April 25.

As of April 25, the total number of deaths in Massachusetts related to COVID-19 was 17,199; while 640,399 Massachusetts residents have tested positive for the virus. Nationally, there have been 32 million people infected, and nearly 570,000 deaths attributed to the COVID-19 virus. Globally, the death toll from the virus is a staggering 3,111,298 people.

In Massachusetts, more than 5.6 million vaccine doses have been administered and more than 2.3 million people have been fully vaccinated. The population of Massachusetts as of 2020 was 6,921,776.

It is only when we realize that life is taking us nowhere that it begins to have meaning.  –PD Ouspensky

That is all for now folks. See you next week.

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

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Posted by Joe DeFelice on Apr 30 2021. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.