Wearing A Mask Should Not Be Up For Debate
The number of COVID cases in Ventura County keeps growing as people accustomed to the new norm let their guard down, or in this case, let their masks down.
As the holidays come closer, to wear a mask or not, shouldn’t be up for debate. Essentially my approach to the mask debate is to focus on the reason why people are getting comfortable in not wearing their masks and how this can be really harmful to tight knit communities.
The ethnic and racial breakdown for Santa Paula, according to the Census Reporter, shows that 81% of the population is Hispanic.
Since my community is predominately made up of Latino residents, Latinos are known for spending the holidays with as many people possible. Latinos tend to use this time to bond in many ways such as making traditional foods such as tamales or pozole together, and distributing platters of food to share with family or friends who couldn’t be present. Overall, sharing and spending quality time with loved ones is the core of holidays for everyone.
I work at a property management company in Oxnard, and have had tenants or vendors get sick. One of the cases that stood out to me was about the people who live in 20-unit apartment building. One of the tenants who resides on that property got sick from COVID. My coworker who also manages the property had been in contact with that person before they knew they were sick. Although thankfully she did not get sick, it was a big scare for everyone.
Particularly what stood out to me is they mentioned how before someone who lives on the property got sick, the kids would be outside playing, and the tenants would visit each other’s apartments regularly. Even though COVID has been happening for months now, people didn't start taking precautions until someone got sick. They mentioned how the courtyard was so quiet because all the children were quarantined at home instead of playing outside.
I want the focus of my story to be the holidays for tight knit communities during COVID. I also want to break down the story into subsections like this story on “thecity.nyc”. I want to have a category with statistics of total cases and deaths in the county, or specifically in Santa Paula, and also talking about how people plan on spending their holidays.
Specifically, this reflects my community because although this happened in Oxnard, the apartment building this situation happened at is also made of predominantly Latino residents. I’ve noticed that people in my community are very lenient when it comes to wearing a mask, which is one of the most recommended ways to protect yourself and others. There’s been a few times where neighbors or family friends come to my house door to ask for one of my family members and they aren’t wearing a mask!
The statistics I will be using to reference the number of COVID cases will be from this website because it includes Santa Paula, and the rest of Ventura County such as Oxnard.
Overall, some of the questions I will be asking residents in my community are:
- Have you started planning your plans for the holidays? If so, what will you be doing differently compared to previous years and how does that make you feel?
- In general when do you enforce the mask regulation for yourself and others? Specifically with family or close friends?
- Why do you wear a mask?
- Would you say there is a huge debate over the mask regulations? If so why do you think that?
- Do you remember the first time wearing a mask? Has your mask fashion changed since the start of the pandemic, and would you continue to wear one after the pandemic?
In order to ask these questions not only will I ask in English but also in Spanish if needed to get a wide range of responses.
Previously the original questions I had to ask were:
- When do you think it’s okay to not wear a mask?
- What type of mask do you wear?
- Why do you wear a mask?
In testing out my questions, my coworker, Karen's response was very intriguing. She mentioned seeing how people react to mask policies is sometimes a giveaway for their political beliefs. I also decided to later include the question regarding the holidays because I feel like there’s going to be a huge spike of COVID cases around Thanksgiving and the December holidays. Personally, I am curious to know the ideas of other people in my community because I myself am tempted to make plans that involve breaking social distancing.
Part of me wants to justify the potential plans because I want to see my boyfriend who I haven’t seen in person since his move to Utah. Yet, at the same time my inner conscious guilt trips me and is paranoid of all the potential risks because we are still in the midst of a pandemic!
However, as of now I have been pretty good at limiting my interactions with people at work or when I go to the groceries with my family. Learning about how other people go on about their life amidst the pandemic really interests me. Especially since we’re all essentially going through the same thing but each in our own unique ways.
Therefore, I plan to tell this story with photos of the people I interview, or with audio clips from interviews, mainly depending what they’re comfortable with. Or, if possible a slideshow with photos and video clips of the people in my community and parts of town with an audio track of interview clips or commentary.
