Writer sees wearing a face mask as dehumanizing and humiliating

I am extremely worried about the current COVID-19 situation, and my concern has nothing to do with coughing, sneezing, or any other symptoms of the common cold/flu. In the recent video press release on May 31, 2020 Jay Inslee mandated that all workers in Washington state, effective June 8, must now wear a face covering at all times, and if they don’t abide by these rules are subject to all sorts of fines, although, in classic Inslee fashion, he is indefinite about the specifics, leaving us to infer the worst. Inslee loves to talk about Science, and how he is adhering to the facts. Well, here’s an interesting fact:

Back in March 30, 2020, the Chief Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Michael J. Ryan said, “We don’t generally recommend the wearing of masks in public by otherwise well individuals because it has not up to now been associated with any particular benefit.”

Another interesting fact: the Washington State Department of Health says on their website, updated April 13, 2020, “There is limited evidence to suggest that use of cloth face coverings help reduce disease and transmission.”

Jay Inslee describes wearing a face mask as a sign of love—no, I do not see it that way. Wearing a face mask is dehumanizing and humiliating, a sign of blind obedience to draconian orders, and ultimately making one more susceptible to giving oneself an illness. For example, common sense tells us that If someone has allergies and needs to sneeze they can either sneeze into their own mask and breathe in their germs, or they can lift up the mask, sneeze, and be subject to all the judgmental stares/glares being directed their way. Will they be fined for that?

And whatever happened to “my body, my choice?” For years, it has been legal and acceptable to kill an unborn baby who has no choice in the matter, but when it comes to wearing a mask that limits one’s ability to breathe, keeps germs close to one’s mouth, and, for some people, results in the skin breaking out, there is no choice.

As citizens of Washington State and human beings who live, presumably, in a free country, we need to ask questions—a lot of them—and not passively accept Inslee’s decrees and mandates as the final word on the situation.

“Think. It’s not illegal. Yet.”

Savonnah Henderson

Dayton, WA