Much a-News About Masking

Dr. Kieran Moore, the Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario, went to the media on November 14th to discuss measures to curb the ongoing and worsening health crisis. ER wait times are reaching new highs, pediatric hospitals are overwhelmed and reducing surgeries to help ease the pressure. Ontario’s healthcare system is devastated. The more we understand about COVID infections leads us to understand horrifying conclusions of repeat infections. Government inaction in response to the ongoing COVID pandemic has done irreparable damage to people. So when we heard Moore was making an announcement, we all knew what was coming.

Unsurprisingly, Moore repeated what his boss, Doug Ford, said over the weekend and told the public that he “strongly recommended” wearing masks. That’s it.

Let’s be perfectly clear: masks work. Study after study has proved lower infection rates after mask mandates were implemented. Yes, N95s are the best, and there is much to be said about the use of any face-covering in their stead. But you don’t need me to tell you this, and if you do, you’ve already called me a soyboy cuck or whatever.

So why is it an issue? You can thank the Conservatives for that, but more crucially, you can thank the media. Their normalization of this rhetoric is what allows people to think there’s even a debate to be had.

The current attitude against “COVID mandates” began on the right. In Canada, Poilievre’s campaign tried to make it into a disability issue and since the Conservatives hitched their brand to the convoy, the result was a given. Slowly, as mask and vaccine mandates were repealed, Canada was forced to move on by an uncritical media taking the Conservative bait. All while the nominal electoral left has kept silent.

Oh wait, the Liberals called for it on public transportation and schools. What about manufacturing, where a large amount of deaths from COVID happened? Fuck ‘em, I guess.

Back to the news media, reporting on Ford’s comments, in particular, reached new lows. The CBC’s headline reads “Ontario Premier Doug Ford urges masking, stops short of imposing mandate” instead of the much more accurate “Ontario Premier Doug Ford refuses to implement mask mandate amidst crumbling healthcare.” The mere concept of placing blame at a premier’s feet for something in their jurisdiction seems alien to our national broadcaster.

The CBC continues to force the question of masking onto us. Nora Loreto, independent journalist and dedicated listener to The Current, tweeted out her response to their episode on mask mandates. The segment reportedly focused entirely on whether or not mandates would get public support.

CBC’s The National then took to the notoriously swarming-prone Twitter to ask “Is it time to bring back mask mandates?” pretending to be blissfully unaware of the anti-mask and anti-vaxx campaigns that flourish on the Hellsite. Of course the results were going to be an overwhelming favour for “No." What does this tell us? Well, it tells any of us with a slight knowledge of the internet that it was an asinine question with an irrelevant result. But anyone who sees this poll might think it’s another piece of the puzzle to explain the public’s against masking. Whoever did this poll is either not versed in online culture, or fully aware this was going to be the result. Neither option is a good sign.

The worst offenders, unsurprisingly, are the right-wing media companies and their mouth pieces. The National post has been using its megaphone to amplify anti-mask messages in its own, particular way. While Brian Lilley, live-in boyfriend of Doug Ford’s director of media relations, has been absolutely rabid on this front. Lilley continually bangs the drum against mask-mandates in pieces claiming COVID isn’t the problem. “It is RSV that is causing the problems for children’s hospitals just as the flu may cause problems for adult hospitals in a few weeks.” Lilley writes to distract us from the connection between RSV and COVID, namely, that masks prevent the spread of both. His conclusion is equally as laughable. “We didn’t mask up the entire population due to a bad flu season before COVID. We didn’t make masks mandatory during H1N1, a time when children were especially hit hard.”

“wE dIdn’T mAsK bEfOrE sO wHy nOw?!1”

Truly incredible cognitive faculties on display here.

Here’s the thing: Ontarians actually support a return to a mask mandate. The support is low, at 53 per cent, but 77 per cent say they would wear a mask if it was returned. Why on earth are we focused on the 23 per cent who say otherwise?

It’s because the healthcare crisis is one that can’t be solved just with masking.

We need better ventilation to help filter out pathogens. We need paid sick days for workers. We need to repeal Bill 124. We need to use the billions in surplus to support our healthcare system. But, yes, we also need to bring back mask mandates. When the media refuses to move the discussion past “masks are a crucial part in reducing spread during a pandemic” the rest of these questions are non-starters, and left by the wayside. A critical examination of our system is not even approached, because according to them, we can’t even agree on masks!

Meanwhile, the question of masks themselves has been reduced to one of personal choice. You can choose to wear one, or you can choose not to. When wearing masks is framed like this, the inference of the question is that masks are not effective. The government and media are saying this: If masks were effective, we would be asking everyone to wear one, but we’re not, it’s up to you, so it makes no difference to us. Except it does make a difference. Like I stated earlier: masks work. So maybe they should start acting like it.

The issue is more than lack of commitment on the Ontario government’s end, however. It’s the essence of neoliberal capitalism. What governments choose not to do in policy is just as, if not more, important than what governments choose to do. The Ford government is choosing not to implement a mask mandate, paid sick days, ventilation etc. Doug Ford is not “stopping short” of a mandate, he is refusing to commit to one. To use the ongoing crisis to convince your viewers that they can desperately cling to the possibility of a pre-pandemic normal is a move by the media that actually indicates their primary function: serving capital.