Masks help slow the spread of coronavirus. So why aren’t more people wearing them?
With lessening of the restrictions for shopping and dining out since May 20, Stanislaus County has seen the largest increase in positive COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with the single day of 23% of tests being positive last Saturday.
Despite the uptick in COVID-19, not everyone wears face covering when out in public, which has caught the attention of public health officials at county and state levels.
Stanislaus County is considering to make it mandatory to wear a face covering in public starting Friday, as noted in Ken Carlson’s story.
So, why do some county residents wear a mask and others don’t?
Angela Rodriguez from Los Banos was shopping with her daughter and three granddaughters at the Monte Vista Crossing in Turlock. The family asked to not use the children’s last names to protect their privacy. All of the family members, including 2 1/2-year-old Mauriell, were wearing masks.
Melonie, 6, said she wears a mask, “Because our family doesn’t want us to get sick because a virus is going around.” Aaliyah, 8, said, “It’s so we can be safe.”
Rodriguez said, “We lost a family member, my father-in-law in New York. We know it’s real.”
She said she thinks some people don’t wear a mask because they don’t understand it’s real, but knows she can’t control what others do.
“It’s uncomfortable, I sweat and I don’t like it, but I don’t want to get sick,” said Rodriguez.
Rick, a truck driver from Modesto clad in a green Army t-shirt, just finished shopping at the grocery. He said he doesn’t think he needs to wear a mask because he attributes an illness in January to the novel coronavirus.
“I hacked and hacked for three weeks,” said Rick, who didn’t want to give his full name. “I’ve been sick before, but nothing like this.”
He did not have the nasal test for the virus and isn’t planning to get the blood antibody test, but said his neighbors tested positive at the time he was sick.
“My biggest concern is all those people who have been wearing masks, they don’t have any immunity to it and we’re seeing a second round already,” said Rick, “I blame the masks... People are born to die.”
“I have an opinion of it, I’m not trying to downplay it. I know a lot people have died from it, but a lot of people die from the flu every year, said Rick. “...I’m a Republican living in California, so I’m kind of a rarity.”
Sammy Mahmud of Turlock, outside of the same grocery, was wearing a mask.
“I wear a mask in case I’m out in public, because I don’t want to spread the virus,” said Mahmud.
He said his parents are elderly and his grandmother is still alive and he doesn’t want to bring the coronavirus home to them.
“I understand people’s freedom of choice, “ said Mahmud, when asked about seeing people without masks.
He said he likes to think that they just forgot the mask or have breathing problems, not that they want to harm others.
Elissa Zuk of Modesto was taking a sit-down break with her 6-week-old, Scarlet, at Vintage Faire Mall on her first trip outside of her house in three weeks. She was not wearing a mask.
“I don’t wear a mask because I feel like we have to build our immunity,” said Zuk, “Eventually, we have to go back to our normal ways of living...”
She said she is afraid of the coronavirus, but doesn’t want to live in fear.
“If it’s mandatory, I’ll probably get a ticket for it,” said Zuk, “But I wouldn’t want to, and I don’t see how I’m supposed to keep a mask on 24/7 every time I leave the house.”
Cynthia Vargas, Modesto native now living in Gilroy, was shopping without a mask.
“I don’t really feel like it’s that serious,” said Vargas, “Everything is back to normal pretty much, so I just feel like I don’t need to wear one.”
However, she said if face coverings become mandatory, “Then everyone should wear a mask, for sure.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health recommend wearing face coverings to help decrease the chance of spreading the virus to another person.
However, the decision to mandate face coverings has been left to county public health officials across the state.
Until now, Stanislaus County has recommended them, but this is the first time that Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, the county public health officer, is considering an order to make them mandatory.
One of the challenges for compliance with wearing masks is the inconsistent messaging from health officials about their benefit. Early on, the message was that masks weren’t beneficial. Which at the time, was true from the perspective of protecting the person wearing a face covering from getting infection.
However, the messages changed and face coverings were recommended — not to protect the wearer — but to help prevent them from spreading the coronavirus, which could occur even by people with no symptoms.
Researchers have proven that face coverings decrease the spread of the coronavirus, much like surgeons wear surgical masks to prevent them from spewing germs onto the patient during an operation.
“I wear my mask any chance I get and I stay six feet apart,” said Patricia Boyd from Modesto, who is in the high risk age group, also shopping at Vintage Faire Mall. She removed her mask to talk to The Bee.
Boyd said, “I think it’s very important, so you don’t spread the diseases or get the diseases.”
This story was produced with financial support from The Stanislaus County Office of Education and the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
To help fund The Bee’s children’s health and economic development reporters with Report for America, go to bitly.com/ModbeeRFA
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 1:07 PM.
