FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. ― A shopper rolls her eyes at the customer wearing a mask inside Publix. A client is annoyed her stylist still insists on donning a face covering. A high-schooler feels awkward being the only one with a mask at a party.
After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed guidelines and the omicron wave diminished, there’s a new chapter unfolding in the fierce debate over masks: People now seem more likely to be shamed, or made uncomfortable, for wearing a mask than not having one.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight this week when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asked high school students in Hillsborough County to remove their masks during his news conference. It ignited a barrage of pro- and anti-mask comments on social media.
“Honestly, it’s not doing anything, and we’ve gotta stop with this COVID theater,” DeSantis told the students. “So if you want to wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous.”
The intense debate about masks has been an outgrowth of the coronavirus pandemic, turning schools, grocery stores and government meetings into battlegrounds for disagreement in Florida.
As COVID-19 case levels keep dropping, more people are deciding they no longer need a mask. But Michele Perez, of Sunrise, says she still wears a mask everywhere. Sometimes she wears two.
Recently she was in Publix and another shopper looked right at her and rolled her eyes. “I could have gotten into it with her, but I just took my cart and went in the other direction,” Perez said.
Across the country, mask mandates are falling fast, but Florida never had one and the governor has taken a strong position against them. On Thursday, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo insisted there is no evidence masks make a difference. He held up a cloth mask during a news conference and said, “These things are not saving lives. They are not going to end the pandemic.”
Just as Floridians argue “no one should be told what they must wear,” the new debate centers on “no one should be made to feel uncomfortable for protecting themselves.”
Kevin Brown Jr. kept his mask on at the governor’s news conference, even after DeSantis’ comment.
“I was thinking I don’t know if I should take it off or leave it on ’cause it’s the governor,” Brown told News Channel 8 in Tampa. “He asked us to take it off but I thought about it, and it’s my right to have my mask on.”
His father, Kevin Brown, spoke out in support of his son. “I tell him it’s his choice, so he made that choice and the governor has no right to tell no kid or no one who they can or can’t wear a mask. He doesn’t have that right.”
In South Florida, with the positivity rate below 5%, the use of facial coverings is optional at Miami-Dade County and Broward County Public Schools.
Leah Schneider, a Davie high school senior, said most teens no longer wear them to school or in crowded hallways, and that choice is mostly respected. But wearing one to a party or out with friends can get awkward, she said. “People would ask, ‘Why are you wearing that?’”
Experts believe there is social psychology involved in mask shaming. The idea you are being judged for wearing or not wearing a mask ― to a wedding, a party, the grocery store ― might deter you from doing so, even if you think it’s the right thing to do.
Sasha Laurence, of Tamarac, refuses to be shamed. She has a 3-year-old who can’t get vaccinated and an elderly mother who also is ineligible. Laurence, who works at a hair salon, recently got into a disagreement with a customer who refused to put on a mask while having her hair washed and was annoyed that Laurence had one on.
“She told me we are all going to die eventually, and I told her I am not going to die if I can help it,” Laurence said.
Laurence said her 13-year-old son wears a mask to middle school.
“I would feel bad if anyone tried to shame him for it because he is just trying to protect the family,” Laurence said. “But people bully adults so I don’t really know what to expect.”
Public health experts say the messaging on masks hasn’t been consistent, and early on they became politicized. Democrats are more likely to wear masks than Republicans, polls show. Some opponents view mask promotion as an overreaction to the coronavirus.
Dr. Marissa Levine, a University of South Florida College of Public Health professor, said masks do have a significant impact on curbing the spread of respiratory infectious disease, and certain people may still need to protect themselves.
“You have a lot of areas of the state with high community transmission and you still have lot of people at risk so wearing a mask can be good,” she said.
“I would tell anyone who is mask shaming to withhold judgment because at end of day, you don’t know everything that’s going on with that individual,” Levine said. “We need to be kind to each other. There’s a lot of anxiety in the world. If a mask helps someone feel better, why would you shame them?”
Anti-mask activists say they’ve been the ones bullied until now.
Cindy Falco-DiCorrado, who is running for mayor in Boynton Beach, was arrested in January 2021 after she shouted at customers and employees about their rights to stay mask-free at a West Boca bagel shop. Last month she was found guilty by a six-member jury of two misdemeanor counts of trespassing and resisting an officer without violence.
Although she faced jail time, the judge withheld adjudication, and told Falco-DiCorrado she would have to pay standard court costs, but no fines.
“It was against my body; my body, my choice,” the fervent Republican said of her decision to refuse masks.
Debbie Larch, of Plantation, said people may have different levels of risk tolerance and mask wearing is a reflection of that. “I think it’s a personal decision.
“When I wear a mask I do feel protected. I feel weird going to Costco not wearing one. For the most part, people are respectful.”
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