A hapless Auckland commuter says she was accosted not once, not twice but three times (by five different people) for not wearing a face mask inside the Britomart train station.
The use of masks or face coverings is mandatory for:
- people travelling on public transport services in, into and out of the Auckland region
- the drivers of small passenger service vehicles in Auckland, such as taxis and app-based ride services
- people travelling on passenger flights throughout New Zealand.
Exemptions for wearing a mask or face covering include:
- children and young people travelling to and from school
- a person who has a medical condition that prevents them from wearing a mask or face covering safely or comfortably
- passengers travelling in taxis or app-based ride services
- drivers, pilots, staff, or crew of the transport service, if in a space completely separated from passengers (eg, pilots in a cockpit, or train drivers in a train cab).
Note the use of the words “travelling on”. Whether courts would enforce a penalty for a commuter not wearing a mask while travelling to their public transport is debatable. I hope the safety aspect would overrule but the surefire answer is that whatever plays out in court wins this argument.
My colleague wears glasses that fog up when a face mask is correctly positioned over her nose, meaning her safety is at risk on the stairs leading from the road down to the rail platforms. Her experience on day one of mandatory mask wearing taught her it’s better to wear the mask improperly under her nose rather than hold it in her hand. Bear this in mind the next time you observe an improperly worn face mask.
The rules are clear about having regard for safety issues when visibility is impaired because glasses that are are fogged create a hazardous situation. The commuter in question says that in future she will wear her mask improperly positioned under her nose until she is safely seated on the train.
This lesson was learned on her way down to the train on day one, with mask in hand, she was stopped twice by AT employees and a third time by three police who had nothing better to do than stroll around the train platform together. Why they didn’t split up to cover more ground is anyone’s guess. Safety in numbers from potentially violent anti-mask wearing commuters perhaps?
These police could have been stopping criminals elsewhere, or the virus from infecting the community through insufficiently monitored quarantine hotels time and time again. A fine or prison sentence would be better applied to incomers potentially carrying the virus.
There is evidence that a cloth or paper mask offers very little protection from the virus but there is also evidence that wearing a mask or face covering diminishes the risk of catching or spreading COVID-19.
The latest recommendations from the US CDC recommends face masks.
“Seven studies have confirmed the benefit of universal masking in community level analyses: in a unified hospital system, a  German city, a U.S. state, a panel of 15 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.,as well as both Canada and the U.S. nationally. Each analysis demonstrated that, following directives from organizational and political leadership for universal masking, new infections fell significantly.
”The prevention benefit of masking is derived from the combination of source control and personal protection for the mask wearer. The relationship between source control and personal protection is likely complementary and possibly synergistic, so that individual benefit increases with increasing community mask use. Further research is needed to expand the evidence base for the protective effect of cloth masks and in particular to identify the combinations of materials that maximize both their blocking and filtering effectiveness, as well as fit, comfort, durability, and consumer appeal.”
Dr Roger Hodkinson, MA, MB, FRCPC, FCAP, CEO and medical director of Western Medical Assessments said COVID is the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public” dismissing face masks as “utterly useless” with “no evidence of effectiveness”.
Because the science is inconclusive whichever side of the scientific argument you choose to put your faith in, it is irrelevant which view we prefer because this decision has been made for us. We don’t have the luxury of thinking for ourselves. The government has decreed masks are mandatory on public transport and the punishment for non-compliance is severe.
“Anyone caught failing to follow the Government order, which was made on Monday and came into force on Thursday morning, faces a maximum fine of $4000 or a prison term of up to six months.”
Of course our government officials tell us the science has changed since last April when the Director of Public Health, Caroline McElnay, said “mask wearing was at the bottom of its list of strategies to control the virus. The advice of the WHO was being followed”.
And so, in June when WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus changed his mind about mask-wearing, we changed our minds too and followed suit in August. WHO says jump and we say how high? A little too slowly of course, and unable to work out whether we were jumping in the right direction.
If the government did its job at the border we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Masks would be irrelevant.
We are not demanding that the prime minister exert control over our very leaky borders that reintroduce COVID-19 in the community but instead are meekly applying a mask to our faces. This sends Ardern the message she wants to hear: “we have faith that you are protecting us from the virus”.
As I have next to no faith in the government’s ability to fulfil their promises, obviously I’m not going to send that message.
My decision is easy because it’s a simple choice of avoiding public transport all together to forgo mask wearing. Others without that option are unlikely to forgo the mask and risk a fine or prison.
If you are of the view that COVID-19 might kill you and decide to proceed with the face mask virtue signalling, ask yourself exactly what you are publicly signalling.
Wearing a face mask sends two messages: the first is that the virus is extremely dangerous – it’s a dangerous pandemic (sarc), and the second is that you have faith that Ardern’s government can control the spread because they are our one source of reliable information.
Public transport anyone?
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