ViewPoint | Tip your mask - what's the point of wearing one?

WAND-17 aired a story with headline Public asked to 'tip your mask' when entering stores to shop on April 29.

The article states that "All Illinois shoppers out and about during the pandemic are asked to tip their masks in order to avoid confusion and anxiety between the public and business owners."

The idea behind "mask tipping", which is about as dumb as cow tipping, but not nearly as consequential, is when you enter an establishment reach up and pull down your mask so the clerk can briefly see your face.

Why tip? According to the article, "People are asked to slightly lower their mask and briefly show their faces when they enter a store to let employees know they are simply there to shop."

This is some kind of stupid.

I don't know about you but from where I sit, I am far more concerned with being heavily sedated and having a ventilator tube crammed down my throat for four days or longer than I am about being robbed while working behind a counter.

At this point, I believe the odds of contracting the Coronavirus is higher than being robbed in the course of one business day. Plus, the survival rate of an armed robbery is much higher than the 20% figure for that of incubated COVID patients.

Just before surgery, should we now ask the operating staff to pull down their masks so you know they are there simply to cut you open and take out your tonsils, add a cup size, or perform that biopsy scheduled weeks ago? If you don't see their faces, how do you know someone in the room isn't going to harvest your kidney or a lung to sell on the black market? How do you know?

We don't. It is a matter of trust.

If I'm a clerk behind a counter, I don't think that seeing a customer walk in and flash their pearly whites is a guarantee they aren't going to pull out a chrome .45, take the money from the till and I wind up dead.

Mask tipping defeats the entire public health purpose of wearing a mask. The stop gap public policy by design is to lower the volume of active virus material in an environment, thus making an infection from a high communicable pathogen harder to get until a cure or treatment protocol is established is in place. This is what makes mask tipping a stupid idea.

Unless you haven't been paying attention from the back of the class, it takes a special kind of stupid to ask patrons to enter your establishment after touching a likely contaminated door handle with gloves that likely already carrying viral material and then ask them to put their hand on their mask to pull it down. In the process, the customer is transferring active virus cells to an area near their face all the while either inhaling or exhaling contributing to the existing volume.

If shop owners and managers want customers to tip their mask, hopefully they will be courteous enough to put signs on their door politely asking customers enter their establishment to do so.

That way, those of us who are concerned more about our own health and the well-being of our neighbors can just pass them by. I would rather spend my money for goods and services at a business that reflects a commitment to public health and works to help keep our community safe.

Spartan Spotlight with seniors Brianna Dingman, Tia Pruitt & Andrea Cunningham

Brianna Dingman

Clubs & Activities

Chorus, FFA

Hometown:
St. Joseph

Siblings:
A younger brother and sister

Hobbies:
Listening to music, drawing, watching TV, and practicing cosmetology.

Favorite SJO memories:
Her greatest memories at SJO revolve around her Chorus classes. She really enjoyed the ILMEA District Chorus Competition at Eastern Illinois University during her senior year.

Favorite classes:
Art, Chorus, and Sociology.

Favorite teachers:
Mrs. Bayles and Mr. Risley at St. Joseph Middle School and Mrs. Jennifer Brooks, Mrs. Mary Benoit, and Mr. Nicholas Wolf at St. Joseph-Ogden High School.

College:
Lakeland College, majoring in Cosmetology.

Advice to future SJO students:
Do your homework and stay caught up.

Andrea Cunningham

Clubs & Activities

We The People, Spanish Club

Hometown:
Royal

Siblings:
Older sister and younger brother

Hobbies:
Reading, writing, and art

Favorite SJO memories:
She remembers a funny moment in one of her science classes when a paper towel was caught on fire by accident during a lab. This happened so fast, and Andrea and her lab partner will not forget it. Andrea also enjoyed eating lunch and socializing with friends throughout her years of high school as well.

Favorite classes:
U.S. History, AP English 3, and all of her Social Studies classes

Favorite teachers:
Mrs. Anderson at PVO and Mr. Don Beckett at St. Joseph-Ogden High School

College:
University of Illinois, majoring in Elementary Education

Advice to future SJO students:
Don't procrastinate and to participate in school events.

Tia
Pruitt

Clubs & Activities

Cheer (3 years), Softball (1 year), Student Council

Hometown:
St. Joseph

Siblings:
Two younger sisters and a younger brother

Hobbies:
Hanging out with friends and family.

Favorite SJO memories:
She really enjoyed every part of the SJO cheer team her freshman, sophomore, and senior years. She also enjoyed being a member of the Student Council during her junior year.

Favorite classes:
Science and history with Mrs. Beth Beckett.

Favorite teachers:
Mrs. Manwaring at St. Joseph Grade School, Mrs. Mabry at St. Joseph Middle School, and Mrs. Beckett at SJO.

College:
Parkland College, majoring in nursing

Advice to future SJO students:
Keep pushing on even when school is tough.

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Text & photos provided by St. Joseph-Ogden High School.

Viewpoint: It's only a matter of time

By Clark Brooks, Editor & Publisher

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I was going to scribble today's editorial yesterday, but I received some unsettling news. The original piece was going to reflect on how I empathized with Illinois State Rep. Darren Bailey, who was granted a temporary restraining order against Governor J.B. Pritzker’s "shelter-in-place" order.

There are a lot of things I miss right now, too. I can't wait for life to return to something resembling the pre-Covid days. If things turn out better, well even better.

Right now, I miss going to the grocery store to pick up fresh vegetables or frozen pizza and a six pack of craft beer. This buying for a week business has got my spending habits out of whack.

I miss playing a vigorous game of tennis. However, while entertaining, my teammates probably don't miss me tossing my tennis racquet against the back fence or slamming it ground in frustration after losing a point.

I miss walking to Black Dog, Bunnies or Courier Cafe in downtown Urbana for a beer and something to eat when I'm feeling too lazy to cook.

I miss my work. I miss covering sporting events for clients and doing postgame interviews with coaches and athletes for Sentinel articles.

In his grand, noble gesture Bailey, who lives in Xenia (pop. 364), told reporters he is only trying to defend residents in his district that are struggling financially because of COVID-19 restrictions put in place by the governor. His goal, he told reporters, was to help get businesses re-open in his district.

I sympathize with that, too. There are people all over the country, not just in Illinois, struggling through stay-at-home orders. I'm one of them. I miss my livelihood, too.

Believing Gov. Pritzker has exceeded his authority and is violating the civil rights of residents by extending the state’s stay-at-home order beyond the 30-day limit, Bailey benefiting from a compassionate bench, is the only resident in the state with TRO relief from the Gov. Pritzker's executive order.

A privilege that he paid $306 in court fees plus attorney fees - probably between another $1,200 to $2,000. That's money he could have maybe loaned or even donated to constituents who might need food to get through the week or help a business with this month's rent. Instead, he spent his hard earn dollars to buy his personal freedom, at least for now temporarily.

There is a growing seed of discontent among residents in the central and southern part of the state. Some 38 days into the social distancing strategy, cabin fever is on an upswing.

Bailey, fanning these flames, reminds me of Dathan, son of Eliab in the Old Testament. Together with his brother Abiram, the Levite Korah and others, Dathan rebelled against Moses and Aaron as they led the Israelites away from Egypt to the Promised Land.

While the majority of the reported cases in the state our in the Chicagoland area followed by border counties on the Illinois side facing St. Louis in second, Clay County, which off the beaten path, with no interstate traffic or tourists attractions of note, has reported just two confirmed cases of the virus since the outbreak.

The coronavirus is a Chicago thing, not a downstate thing.

It will be interesting to see which way the first-term representative steps when the number of cases start to skyrocket in his county. It is only a matter of time.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reports nearby Newton, a half hour drive away, has 44 confirmed cases with four virus related deaths. Mt. Vernon, an hour to the south, is reporting nearly twice that amount with 80 cases and 11 lives lost.

While now everything seems peachy in the land of milk and honey around Xenia, but it is only a matter of time before that changes for the 13,850 that live Clay County.

In a farm community about 75 miles north from Bailey's hometown, I have a relative living in an assisted nursing home. The county where it is located currently has five reported cases, two announced this past Sunday and the latest yesterday.

It was in yesterday's phone call when I learned the newest confirmed case is an employee at his care facility. I was told she self-quarantined as soon as she started exhibiting symptoms.

I got my game face on. I am trying not worry about him or the other residents and wonderful staff there. It hard not to when you hear news about the virus in nursing homes like the one over by Springfield in Sherman.

Yes, Mr. Bailey, you should worry. It is only a matter of time.