[To mask, or not to mask…that is the question]

The year 2020 is not something that most of us will forget anytime soon − if at all.  It is the kind of year that comes around every 100 years or so and presents opportunities and challenges that have a shape- shifting impact on individual lives, societies, and economies.  The very first month of the year saw the word ‘pandemic’, starting to make its way into popular vocabulary.  While the relationship between bat and man in the west is largely limited to periodic spotting of Batman going about his occasional business of saving the world in the movies, an acrobatic jumping of a virus from bat to man, and its deadly human impact was certainly not on top of mind. And so Covid-19 was born and quickly started to spread in China and neighboring South East Asia.  It soon gathered strength so much so that the city of Wuhan, China was the first in the world to hear the dreaded words − ‘Lock down’.  A city of 11 million people were put under a gigantic house arrest unlike any the world has ever seen.  Citizens were forbidden from leaving their houses and transport links in and out of the city were cut off in an attempt to contain a very fast- moving virus with a lethal payload.  

However, even with such a monumental drama playing out in Wuhan, the rest of the world didn’t quite awaken to the dangers of what was yet to come their way.  This is quite strange in that, in this day and age when we have more satellites in the sky than birds, and life itself is live- streamed every minute of the day, one would think that intelligence agencies & public policy organizations of all stripes would sit up and take notice that a city of 11 million just went into lock down….. and that this might be worthy of looking into with some urgency.  Sadly though, public policy actions in the ensuing months didn’t reveal any strong preparedness or response planning.   In America, the virus quickly found an ally in the coalition of the stupid, crazy and delusional to ravage the nation in no time.

It was in early March 2020, that I was packing up and leaving the UK and heading back to the US, after a 3 year work assignment.  I was suddenly staring at a sea of confusion on travel restrictions, social distancing guidelines, mask wearing recommendations in public spaces and a host of other suggestions and ideas both good and bad.  A plethora of experts on TV didn’t make it any easier for the public to decide how best to navigate the day- to- day challenges of daily life with new burdens and anxieties imposed by the virus.  Who could have prophesied that the biggest product in demand during doomsday end times would be the lowly toilet paper, and that citizens of the world (at least the western world) were willing to go to blows to secure their favorite 2-ply.  

To wear a mask or not, suddenly became the most existential question one had to answer.  So in preparation for the Trans-Atlantic crossing from London to Chicago, I was laying out a flight game plan with the due diligence of an astronaut embarking on a space mission − masks, face shield, gloves, potentially a full body suit and any other protection devices that might come in handy, were all worthy of consideration.  We also checked in some essential non-perishable food for survival in the first week upon landing in Chicago, in case the city was devoid of visible life −and became the dystopia− as was being feared.  I had memorized what a 6 feet distance would look like without pulling out a measuring tape every time I had to stand in line somewhere.   While I decided that toilet paper was not going to be an immediate concern for the flight, getting hold of masks ahead of the flight was another matter entirely.  Local stores had run out of mask stocks and it had become a rare commodity. Nevertheless, we set about for the journey with some trepidation and anxiety and headed into Heathrow Airport, determined to make the flight − mask or no mask!

Now masks probably have a history almost as old as man himself.  They were used in funerary rituals, perhaps in the hope of making one’s last ride from earth to the beyond as presentable as possible. They were used in warfare for concealing one’s identity to make it easier to raid enemy camps by night or day.  Then of course, professional burglars & thieves would have had them as an indispensable accessory to go with their mission. Death masks were used all the way into medieval times to make statues and busts of your favorite dear leader, and other social and intellectual luminaries of the day.  Masks were also preferred by sculptors as they would have displayed more patience as models rather than their live versions.  The use of masks in celebrations such as Mardi Gras allowed for celebrants to forget their social class differences and be whoever they wanted to be for a few days of celebrations. Of course, over the course of history, masks played a huge role in keeping people healthy as well.  Given that miasma (a supposed noxious form of air) was the prevailing scientific theory that explained illness, it stands to reason that the population would have turned to some form of mask wearing to keep disease at bay.  The Spanish Flu of 1918 brought masks back center stage and that pandemic serves as a precursor to the very familiar societal discord we have today, about its impact on individual choice, efficacy for stopping disease spread, not to mention that it does nothing to enhance one’s fashion aesthetic. 

Getting back to the flight from Heathrow to O’Hare, it proved to be an interesting mix of contradictions to say the least.  The airport itself resembled a ghost town: it was a surreal sight to see almost all stores closed and the crowds so thin, that you had the pick of chairs in the concourse waiting areas. Standing in line for check-in required you to follow the 6 feet rule and the subsequent security lines also seemed to be reasonably organized, with most folks prodding along with their proximity detectors turned on high.  However, once you were done with the security formalities, the staging area where you wait before the final boarding call, was a different story altogether.  The rules that applied just on the other side of the wall, suddenly seemed completely irrelevant.  You would think just showing the passport and boarding pass somehow made the virus disappear.  Passengers were so tightly packed in as sardines in a small area, that even if Covid-19 was not an issue, you were more than likely to pick up some kind of communicable disease — duty free! Once on the flight, you effectively went from 6 ft. socially distanced protocol to 6 inches of separation from your friendly neighbor in the next seat.  As the plane took off and droned on across the ocean, you are hoping that the only close encounter with Corona would be with its namesake beer, and not with the virus.  

In modern day pop culture, we see super heroes invariably wearing masks when they invoke super powers to save the world.  Iron Man, Batman, Spider Man can’t ever imagine stepping out to do their jobs without donning their masks to save the world, no matter what the hour of day.  So with the kind of popularity these mask clad super heroes enjoy in our midst, it would seem like we would take to wearing masks like Superman takes to flight. Especially when it comes with the added benefit of potentially saving your own lives in addition to lives of your loved ones.  Well, that was not to be, suddenly the simplest and the most low tech piece of fabric, that can be worn without reading a user manual, became a flash point in professing our right to individual freedoms and not giving into Government tyranny.  While the rest of the world shook their masked faces in disbelief, the US ended up in a situation where a huge part of the population defied the pleadings of public health officials and refused to wear masks in public.  

If we as a people can’t wear a mask to save our own lives, what chance do we have in distinguishing fake news from real news, determining if taking a vaccine is a good thing or not, or differentiating between conspiratorial opinion from actual news, and indeed, if we live on a flat earth or a round one.  Ironically, the great information age is beginning to look more like the great dis-information age and we will have to expend a huge amount of time and cognitive energy, to discern the difference between reality and the alternate ones being woven around us every day.  At a minimum, we should be able to start with the easy ones, and wearing a mask is one of them.  A mask in time, may well save nine!