SooToday received the following letter from reader William Nash in response to 'LETTER: Wearing mask shows a community that cares' published on Nov. 8
I feel there should be a response to the 'Letter To The Editor' from Abigail Obenchain concerning the return to masks in the immediate future.
Personally, I am on the fence about many COVID-related things, so I really don't have an agenda for either team in the game. My views come from observation of everything that has happened since March 2020.
We have all run the various gauntlets of washing our groceries and buying up the toilet paper, to tossing away masks to go to hockey games, theatre, and weddings. The whole scenario has come and gone full circle a couple of times since 2020.
What I see are fractures in society that seem to gravitate to their common interest in coming to grips with a new world post-COVID.
At the extremes, we have those who believe and perpetuate every conceivable conspiracy that can be thought of, to those who believe we are suddenly in a world where the air we breathe will never be safe for us. Both of these camps have alienated friends and families to the point where those relationships will never be mended.
The majority of people fall into the middle ground, as it often does.
Those people include those who still hold close some conspiracies involving the government that has been around for decades. There are also those who tend to simply be overly cautious and don't want to be the one to have a finger pointed at them for being a perceived threat to our health and well-being.
The threat of liability has forced governments and health organizations to take the stand that maximum caution is the only route to take. For that, most people have followed those opinions and masked or stayed away from gathering to comply with those (now shown to be) extreme measures.
Society and the people of the general population have seen the results of these various means of dealing with the threat of COVID. Some may have worked well, some not so much. Some conspiracies may have some validity; some are simply not true. We have all made those assessments.
I don't believe society is prepared to return to mandates that require masking, distancing, and limited participation in events, travel, or vaccinations.
A good number (probably a strong majority) of people have been vaccinated and also gotten COVID at least once. Those people realize they have done everything asked of them to deter COVID from spreading, but it has had minimal effect. Those same people who have had COVID also realize they will probably survive another bout of it. Finally, those same people have also resolved to take the normal precautions they performed pre-COVID to protect those vulnerable people in the world exposed to all threats to their health, including COVID.
I find it hard to believe the majority of people that are now in the "non-extreme" camps will be willing to comply with mandates or even suggestions that will impede their now-returning enjoyment of life. The mantra of "enough is enough" might be adopted by the majority who simply are unwilling to live their lives in fear of a virus they know a lot more about than they did two and a half years ago.
I have been double vaccinated and complied with most mandates since 2020, but my rationale says, "enough is enough."
I survived COVID and realized its threat is limited to a small percentage of society. I will no longer let it rule my life. Abigail Obenchain can wear her mask with no complaint from me, just don't expect me to follow.
William Nash, Sault Ste. Marie