Mystery of the missing masks

Still here, although …

I ventured out in public Tuesday, my first outing into our strange new world in more than three weeks.

It wasn’t necessarily meant to be a pleasure trip, since the key stop was Spokane Eye Clinic.

I had surgery to repair a detached retina on March 11, and apparently that’s the kind of stuff that needs to be checked and then, a month later, rechecked with scans and the whole lot.

So, first surprise after a neighbor drove me to the front door of the medical building …

There were nine people in the huge waiting room, all maintaining the proper social distancing.

However, only four of the nine were wearing masks.

I was really surprised.

Wasn’t this mask thing settled?

I mean, I’ll wear one in case I’m infected, and I want to protect you. In return, YOU wear one to protect me.

That’s how I understand the plan, and at an eye clinic — of all places — there were people breathing and wheezing and whatnot without any face covering.

You’d think the tip-off would be the masks on every single employee, hand sanitizer sitting out for repeated use, disinfecting wipes in the rest rooms, etc.

The idea, folks, is that we’re trying to cut off this COVID thing at each possible source.

You know, so we don’t get sick.

Or die.

If you’re getting the impression here that I wasn’t happy with those bare-faced patients sitting around, well …

Congratulations!

You got the answer in one try.

I assume that when each of those people was called back for exams and so forth, the nurses or technicians probably GAVE them masks.

Picture someone checking your eye.

They’re less than a foot away.

Yes, I was gobsmacked at the thought of folks coming to an eye clinic with no masks in the midst of a pandemic.

Let’s run over this again, shall we?

Maybe the very first suggestion from the CDC or some other organization was that masks were optional.

But as soon as somebody with an IQ higher than a turnip gave it a second thought, the advice changed.

It became: Everyone wears masks, because …

WHY NOT?

It might save somebody from getting very sick.

There’s even a slight chance it could protect YOU from getting a virus you really, really don’t need.

Look, I’d even call it a social responsibility to wear a mask in public.

You know, after my appointment at the clinic, we stopped at a place where my neighbor could buy some seeds for a garden — and every person in the place (which is open to outside air on one side) was wearing a mask.

Same thing when we stopped at Nadine’s in Rathdrum to get takeout enchiladas on the way home.

So I guess …

The eye clinic was an outlier.

Bizarre.

I’m not sure how long it will be until I’m back out among the public — other than to play the golf course right outside my front door.

When I do go someplace else, though …

I’ll have an extra supply of masks to pass around.

The blog appears each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. You’re welcome to join. Any time, on any subject. Or with any opinion that doesn’t get us sued.

scameron@cdapress.com

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