We teach our children, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” right? It appears, however, that Americans have completely thrown this basic principle out the window when it comes to the quite literal debate on wearing/refusing to wear a mask. Why the controversy? Some argue that it is an infringement on their personal freedom while others assert masking up will expedite the suppression of COVID-19, allowing the common good to benefit and exercise greater freedom in the long-run. So, individual free will/choice vs. public health/safety? Whatever side you stand on, coronavirus has caused an even greater divide than simply those who become ill vs. those who do not.
If you really think about it though, we all want the same thing; we just have different opinions in achieving the end goal. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Like any issue in America, coronavirus has become political. As someone who is immunocompromised, you can probably guess what position I take and it saddens me that I even have to take a position on something that seems so obvious to me. In Jefferson County, MO, there is a drastic split between those who are in favor of and those who are against wearing masks. Suzy Davis, an elected board member of the Jefferson County Health Department, made clear that she is against wearing masks, defending her stance with Sweden’s approach to COVID-19. What she failed to mention though is that the data indicates Sweden has the highest mortality rate out of all the countries that have been impacted by the virus, according to Dr. Jason Newland, a Washington University Infectious Disease Specialist. Additionally, Davis, who has no medical background, claimed that there is a cure for the virus; that claim is entirely false. On the other hand, it’s easy to see why people may not see the benefit of wearing a mask, mainly because at the beginning of this pandemic masks were discouraged by health officials.
Will we ever have an answer to solving the problem we are currently facing? The future seems grim and I find myself discouraged at times. The thing that makes this virus different though is that there is so much unknown. We don’t know why some people quickly recover from COVID-19 while others lose their fight against this virus. There is no rhyme or reason to this illness, and that’s what scares me. Someone who is in perfect health with no underlying health conditions can contract the virus and have a poor immune response and then there are others who have mild cases and can go back to their lives as if nothing happened. COVID-19 is inherently contradictory, and that’s why Americans are clashing. More research is needed to understand how this virus operates so we as a country can come together with a concrete solution. We are not the enemy, COVID-19 is.
#MGA #MyastheniaGravisAssociation #MGADigest #MGStrong #MyastheniaGravis #IHaveHeardOfMG #COVID19 #ChronicIllness #MaskMandate
This blog post was written by Meridith O'Connor, St. Louis Program Coordinator of the Myasthenia Gravis Association.