Ward 8 Ald. Erin Conley spoke up Tuesday after a man told the city council that he questions the purpose of masks. “I’m not going to wear my mask everywhere,” declared the man, who, like everyone else in the audience, had a mask, perhaps because folks entering city hall for the meeting were told to don them at the door. Conley told the story of someone she knows who tested positive while showing no symptoms. “Fortunately, this young man wears his mask all over the place,” Conley said. “He washes his hands. He’s very careful. In a shared living and working environment, no one else tested positive.” Masks can fog glasses and otherwise annoy, Conley allowed, but there’s been an uptick in cases and other nations, thanks to masks, are faring better than us. “They put them on and they stuck it out,” she told the room. “We have to slow the transmissions.” Conley wasn’t wearing a mask, and she wasn’t alone. Of the eight council members present, five didn’t wear masks for prolonged periods during the two-hour meeting. Why don’t council members wear masks? We’re six feet away from others, Conley explained after the meeting. Yes, but so were masked people in the audience. Conley then pointed out that Plexiglass panels separate council members from each other. Guess you can be too careful.
This article appears in Summerguide 2020.
