Many Reasons People Don’t Wear Masks

We are living in an unprecedented time and with all of the emotions flying, its easy to get triggered and make assumptions without information.

Yesterday I was working with a woman with asthma.  (I have her permission to share this as she also wants people to know.) She doesn’t wear masks outdoors when maintaining social distancing due to her asthma.  She started the session crying saying that someone who was wearing a mask outdoors came up to her on the street, pulled down her mask and coughed in her face.  Then yelled at her that she should be wearing a mask.  My client was mortified and humiliated.  Her doctor had told her not to wear a mask outdoors as it isn’t needed as long as she social distances outdoors (which she was) and if she wore it could cause her an asthma attack.

We need to stop mask shaming people.  There are many reasons people are not wearing masks outdoors right now and as a medical professional, the medical evidence thus far agrees that it’s very unlikely that you would get coronavirus outside unless you’re coughing or sneezing in someone’s face and staying with them for prolonged periods.

The equation agreed to by most medical professionals is proximity + time + amount of infectious exposure and then compare it with your health and pre-existing conditions.  For example, if you are only passing someone on the street and they cough, it’s very unlikely you will get sick, even if they are less than 6 feet away. Working in a hospital where there are covid patients is so challenging due to the consistent close proximity, extended time and amount of infection exposure.

The reason many people choose to wear masks outside varies.  If you are in protests with many people in close proximity over periods of time, wearing masks is assumed right now.  If you are walking in nature in a much less populated area by yourself I personally don’t feel that is necessary and at the same time, it’s certainly everyone’s personal choice.

Top reasons people don’t were masks:

• Asthma, a mask makes the air moist and dense and that can trigger asthma symptoms.
• COPD, same as asthma and worse especially for those on oxygen.
• Anxiety, masks can make people hyperventilate and feel like they cannot breathe triggering panic attacks.
• PTSD, similar reasons as anxiety.
• The hearing impaired.  This is a very difficult time for the hearing impaired who read lips all the time, it can trigger anxiety to walk into a room and not be able to read/communicate the way you are used to.
• Those with lip or facial disorders or things like eczema on the creases of the lips, a mask can be extremely painful.

There are millions of people in the above categories that cannot wear masks all the time easily or safely and yet in our current environment, they HAVE to wear them indoors.  These are people who are being forced to wear masks indoors even though it does them physical and/or psychological harm to do so in order to ensure safety of others so they do wear them when necessary to ensure not to cause others harm.  When these people then don’t choose to wear them outdoors while attempting safe distancing, we need to remember these are not people trying to cause you harm or people who don’t care about others.  We need to stop instinctively making that judgment.

Let’s be conscious of what we are choosing to project on others.  We assume we know their story.  Just like anything, we can never know someone else’s story unless we ask them.

So the next time you consider shaming someone who is outside without a mask consider the fact that you don’t know why.  Someone walking alone or with their dog / partner without a mask is causing you no harm.  Please be kind and/or leave them alone if you don’t know their story.  There is enough going on in the world today that is creating stress, let’s choose kindness whenever we have the opportunity…and in my opinion there is always an opportunity for kindness.