A few thoughts and doo-dats while wondering when the mainstream media will finally start confronting New York governor Andrew Cuomo about those nursing home deaths he is directly responsible for.
I’ve gotten some pretty vile comments that I refuse to post regarding my position on wearing masks. Yep, I’m being called a “grandma killer” and a “menace to society”, but you know what, I don’t give a shit. I wear gloves at the pool supply retail place when I’m out on the sales floor because that’s required, especially when we’re handling chemicals and stuff. Neither of my bosses wear masks, so I don’t wear a mask. If they asked me to, I would while attending on customers (even with our protective plastic and our marked floors), but I’d quit if I were told I had to wear a mask throughout my entire shift. I hold nothing against folks that choose to wear masks, although I think it’s dumb, and, like “Dr. Doom” now says, primarily symbolic. I’ll wear a mask whenever I go to the Banner MD Anderson place for my occasional iron treatments because there are cancer patients there with immune system issues.
Which brings me to the touchy issue regarding air travel – touchy because of the upcoming 30th anniversary Goodboys Invitational weekend and my ability and willingness to attend. Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport is requiring folks to wear masks at all times, no matter where you are:
Effective June 1, 2020 Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport will require all employees and members of the public entering public airport facilities, including the terminals, the Rental Car Center, the PHX Sky Train®, and Airport buses to wear a face covering. In concert with major airlines, the TSA, airports across the country including Seattle, Denver, LAX, New York’s JFK, Boston Logan, Miami, and even companies such as Uber, everyone in public airport facilities will be required to cover their noses and mouths.
In addition, you have the airlines (most especially Jet Blue, the one I use the most for traveling back to Massachusetts) also requiring the use of face masks during flights:
All customers are now required to wear a face covering over their nose & mouth throughout their journey, including during check-in, boarding, while in flight and deplaning. CDC guidance defines a suitable face covering as an item of cloth that fits snugly against the side of the face, be secured with ties or ear loops, include multiple layers of fabric and allow for unrestricted breathing. Young children who are not able to maintain a face covering are exempt from this requirement.
So let’s say I’m grabbing a red eye back to Boston that leaves at, say, 11:30 PM and arrives in Boston at, say, 6:15 AM. I like to get to the airport a couple of hours early to relax and have something to eat and drink in order to make the air travel experience somewhat tolerable. Whether I take the Logan Express (something I do whenever I bring golf clubs back with me) or rent a car, I’m looking at a best-case scenario of having to wear a mask for a minimum of ten hours while I’m in commute. And that’s just when I’m traveling east, which 1-2 hours faster than traveling west. I’m just not willing to put up with that, and I don’t think most other folks are going to be of the same mind.
The air travel experience sucks to begin with, and now I’m going to have to augment that experience by being forced to wear a mask throughout it?
I don’t think so.
Look, we already have a good idea how the virus is spread and who the most vulnerable are when it comes to getting the virus. The fact is, folks who spend time with the elderly in closed spaces, folks with pre-existing health issues, and folks with compromised immune systems of any kind have no business traveling in an airplane for any reason. It sucks to have to write this, but people have to be responsible for exercising reasonable caution as far as their own health is concerned. I’m no prude here: I’d be more than happy to have my temperature taken prior to entering airport security, or a rental car location, or a commuter bus (just like I have to before I enter Banner MD Anderson); I believe that to be a prudent measure. But to wear a mask throughout the air travel experience is total overkill and unnecessary, and I won’t do it.
Of course, I’m not unaware of what this means as far as my appearance at this year’s 30th Goodboys Invitational goes. It means I’m going to have to politely decline, the same being true for wanting to visit my Dad – that will have to wait until at least the fall. (Of course, by that time everyone will likely be freaking out about the possibility of a “second Coronavirus wave”, so that likely won’t happen either. Maybe I’ll just rent a car and drive to see him!)
I refuse to live my life in fear. People were dying before the Coronavirus hit, people will die after the Coronavirus is condemned to the dustbin of history. Lots of folks died because of the Coronavirus, but it will come out that the majority of the deaths were entirely preventable, and no more than the normal flu season. Those are the facts. Period. So excuse me for not being willing to immerse myself in other folks’ hysteria and completely irrational guidelines when it comes to air travel. These people and their “one size fits all”, zero common sense, “preventative measures” are entirely responsible for the economic destruction, devastation, and deprivation they are causing others. I don’t feel sorry for the airlines: they’ve been pushing a shitty product for a long time now; I feel sorry for all the poor service industry workers whose businesses and lives depend on the the airline industry for their livelihoods and survival.
It’s a sad thing, but as the ultimate consumer in all of this – just like I did yesterday with my choice for where I got my haircut – I have the right to vote with my wallet. And I refuse to buy into the Coronavirus hysteria and insanity.