No mask really is a crime

The news that less than two weeks after it was made a crime, more than 7,000 people had been arrested for not wearing masks in public has – as expected – been met with outrage.

South Africans across the board are up in arms. How, they want to know, dare the police arrest “harmless, innocent people”?

That was how one patriot described them on Facebook. At least. Many more demanded the police go after “real” criminals.

The truth, though, is that people who choose not to wear masks in public are neither harmless, nor innocent. And their acts of rebellion make these criminals as real as any others.

They are quick to cite their constitutional rights but less so to acknowledge their role in furthering SA’s broader constitutional project.

Contrary to what was previously believed, the latest research suggests wearing a mask does offer the wearer some level of protection against Covid-19, so – if only for your own sake – it makes sense to wear one.

But – and this we’ve known for some time – it helps to protect others from contracting the virus from the wearer should he or she unknowingly have it.

Basically, it’s not all about you.

Covid-19 has claimed more than 35,000 lives in South Africa over the course of the past 10 months and in addition to putting themselves at higher risk of becoming another statistic, people who choose not to wear masks in public do the same to everyone they come into contact with.

What about their constitutional rights? What about the constitutional rights of the doctors and nurses and paramedics who have to treat them?

It is now the law to wear a mask and this makes not wearing one a crime and those who choose not to wear one, criminals. And so it should be.

There should be outrage – but it should be directed at the more than 7,000 people who were arrested for not wearing masks in public.

Because, in fact, how dare they? Should the police be going after rapists and murderers? Of course.

But should they also be going after those who place our chances of overcoming this pandemic in jeopardy and break the law while doing so?

They not only should, they have to. It’s their job. We have no one but ourselves to blame for the position we find ourselves in.

The second wave currently devastating the country is as a direct result of us having let our collective guard down.

And the urgency with which it must now be reigned in cannot be overstated.

The most recent developments in securing vaccines for South Africa represent a hugely promising step in the fight against Covid-19. But we still have a long way to go.

And we still have many obstacles to overcome – from ensuring equitable access to the vaccine, to gaining an increasingly sceptical populus’ trust and confidence in its safety to addressing the logistical challenges involved with roll-out to, all the while, keeping the already fragile healthcare system intact.

In the meantime, we must all do everything we can to bring down the numbers by social distancing, sanitising and – crucially – wearing masks.

The cost of contrarianism for the sake of it – payable in both lives and livelihoods – is simply too high.

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