Since June, Moscow’s mayor and local officials have had an ordinance requiring face masks in public. Just a little over an hour away, where I live and go to school at the University of Idaho satellite campus, is the lake and resort town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Here and in the surrounding cities of Rathdrum, Post Falls, Hayden, and others there has been little to no mask requirements, except for the few chain businesses and corporations requiring them nationwide.
Unfortunately, even the local Costco and Walmart have many shoppers using their face coverings like a minor with a fake ID, for entry into the building and not much else. Once away from the eyes of greeters and membership checkers they simple carry their mask in hand or turn it into a chin bra and go about their selfish consumer lives.
The schools here do not have mask policies and do not require staff or students K-12 to type of face coverings unless the population infection rate hits a specific number. This sounds like a step in the right direction, until you learn once the public reaches this number school only meets twice a week or less in person. So, why weren’t the children and staff wearing masks the whole time?
To make matters worse for our all-red zone hospitals in the area, including Sacred Heart in Spokane, Washington, the state’s mask requirements have been disbanded and the local Panhandle Health gave in to either exhaustion or laziness allowing the mask protests outside its doors what they so feverishly desired, pardon the dark pun. Mask requirements that were hardly followed by businesses and citizens alike were erased. Let me be the first to assure you that even with these loose mask mandates no one, and I mean absolutely no one, was enforcing them. Law enforcement would not back up Panhandle Health and the public health offices lacked the man power, resources, and competency to properly push the health ordinance on the public.
Thankfully, the Coeur d’Alene City Council voted 4-2 in late October to require face coverings in indoor or outdoor public places. From my observance of my community, the city council’s involvement helped slightly, but as the weeks of November bled on the participation wavered and has since dissipated greatly. Across Latah County there has been just over 1,400 cases and one death as of Nov. 17. On that same date in Kootenai County there has been 7,655 cases and 90 deaths. These are only the ones we know about. Many community members and peers have admitted to me that they or people they know suspect they had or have the virus butvirus but refuse to get tested out of anger of the rising numbers. So rather than social distance or wear a mask to lower these numbers they have elected to not get tested or call in to assist with contact tracing. These are the fine people of Coeur d’Alene.
I would just like to say I am ashamed. I am ashamed of the people I live around. I am ashamed of the people I call family. I am ashamed of some decisions I have made. I am disgusted with the city I grew up in and call home. We are terrible people. I do not live in Moscow and cannot speak to the tone of the citizens there, and I do not speak for all members of the Kootenai County because, I know some have been fighting hard for public safety and awareness. But if I am being honest, a majority of us suck. We are selfish, stupid, angry at the wrong things, and much to focused on our own petty differences to make a difference.
I want to say someone should punish us, fine us, give us some more systemic fallout for our ridiculousness. But what I really think we should do is remember how we were the generations who collectively ignored or fought against our call to action.
In the midst of a depression people gathered in small communities and shared food, scarce opportunity, and support. During WWII children collected scrap metal to turn into bullets for U.S. soldiers. During Vietnam people protested in the streets to end the unjust violence an ocean away.
In the COVID-19 pandemic we screamed our heads off outside Target because we refused to wear a mask for our 30-minute grab and go shopping trip. God bless America.
Rebecca Pratt can be reached [email protected].