Ailee Slater
Slater is a writer and standup comedian who graduated from the University of Oregon. She lives in Ashland.
As Oregon faces up to a new and frightening COVID-19 surge, county leaders across the state are balking at the idea of re-introducing mask requirements and one group of 1,000 parents in Southern Oregon has even threatened to pull their kids from school over mask mandates.
When federal mask guidance was loosened three months ago, the Biden administration called it a first step in “returning to normal.” Little wonder that four months later, some Oregonians are outraged at the idea of once again having to wear a mask.
It does grave harm when our leaders treat masks like an eccentric, remarkable burden. Maybe if masks weren’t positioned as the antithesis to normality—maybe if we could all learn from Asia, rather than mocking the region’s daily hygiene practices—our country wouldn’t have reached the highest death rate of any developed nation.
A few days before state-wide mask requirements were lifted, I moved back to Oregon after 10 years in Hong Kong. Masks – and a population enthusiastic about wearing them – helped Hong Kong and its 7.5 million residents limit COVID deaths to 212. In Oregon, which has a population of 4.2 million, the death tally stands at 2,890.
While people in Oregon and across the U.S. spent 2020 in lockdown, in Hong Kong we continued to go to work, ride public transportation and eat at restaurants. We hugged friends, shopped at grocery stores and attended sold-out comedy shows, indoors.
How did Hong Kong do it? It wasn’t social distancing. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. During COVID, we still stood nose-to-neck in packed subway cars with strangers. Relentlessly bathed in the sweat and sniffles of thousands of people all sharing the same tiny city, masks made it possible to prevent viral spread while enabling daily life to keep moving.
In all honesty, I was a late mask adopter. During my decade in Asia, masks were something local people wore. Never people who looked like me. Growing up in Oregon, I didn’t have any cultural touchpoint for the practice. At Alameda Elementary School, I learned to wash my hands and sneeze into my elbow. When I got older, the only white people I saw wearing masks were doctors. Putting a thing over my mouth seemed reactionary and pointless. Maybe even a little silly.
My Hong Kong friends and colleagues had a very different point of reference: the SARS outbreak of 2003. They understood how airborne disease spreads and the damage it will cause. While I was busy sneezing into my elbow and sending my aerosolized flu germs across the office, my co-workers politely wore an actual barrier over their nose and mouth every time they got sick, to protect me.
Moving back to Oregon hasn’t been easy. Seeing how the virus has steamrolled family and friends on this side of the pond, I’m angry. I’m angry that on the final leg of my journey to Oregon, a one-hour flight from Portland to Medford, everyone removed their masks for a complimentary snack. I’m angry that under 49% of the people in my county are vaccinated, while 99% of the people in my nearest grocery store are unmasked. I’m angry that we can’t seem to show respect and solidarity for the kids and immuno-compromised people in our community by putting on a mask.
Mostly I’m angry because state and federal leaders had plenty of warning about what was coming, concrete examples of how to stop the virus, and over a year later, we’re still not engaging in that global conversation. Hong Kong is just one example of a place with information and evidence that could be saving lives in our local U.S. communities. We should be talking about why social distancing can only do so much; about air flow dynamics and fecal clouds. (Fellow Americans, I beg you: lower the lid before you flush).
Even as our leaders rightly focus on vaccination, they should also encourage and normalize masks. As Oregonians, as Americans, let’s be proud to learn from other countries and adopt their best practices as our own. It’s cultural appropriation everyone can get behind.
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August 08, 2021 at 08:31PM
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