Some Sonoma County residents said they support this week’s guidance that people return to wearing face masks, while others said it’s too much.
The mixed reaction comes after Sonoma County and Bay Area health experts issued recommendations Tuesday that people should mask up in indoor public settings due to the outbreak, or “tripledemic,” of COVID-19, influenza and RSV.
“We just need to recognize there’s very high levels of different respiratory viruses this season,” Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase told The Press Democrat.
Sebastopol resident Kristyn Appleby, 71, said the recommendation is long overdue and that the public stopped masking too soon. She said it angers her that the government “failed COVID so badly” and that science got pushed aside by the politics.
“I think people really need to put aside the politics because this is about the public health,” Appleby said. “If your health doesn’t matter to you, think about helping other people in the world. Put politics aside and think about doing something right for a change.”
Becky Montgomery, 79, of Santa Rosa, said she has continued to wear a mask in crowded places.
She echoed Appleby’s sentiment that wearing a mask is a public health — not political — issue.
“We’re talking about health,” she said. “This is not about who’s in charge, it’s about trying to protect your community.”
Cotati resident Alex Telander, 43, has a wife who is immunocompromised , and a 1-year-old son to keep safe, so his family has continued to wear masks in public. He said his oldest son, who is 9 years old, has also continued to wear a mask at school.
Telander had to take nearly two weeks off work to care for those in his household who caught a severe case of the flu. He said he wished masking was mandatory.
“I don’t think (the recommendation) is enough and I don’t think it will have any effect,” he said. “Unless you tell people to do it, nothing’s going to change. People want to pretend that the pandemic is over.”
Sixty-year-old Scott Terrell, who works in Sonoma but lives in Alvarado, said people need to let nature “take its course” and people should continue taking precautions like washing hands regularly and staying home when sick.
“I think there’s been an over-response to the whole COVID thing in general,” he said.
“I’ve been to respirator training and stuff for my job and I’ve been taught that unless you have a properly fitted mask, it’s not doing much good anyway… but masks in general have never really prevented anything anywhere.”
Sonoma County business’ reaction to the mask recommendation also varied. Some local retailers were seen wearing masks Wednesday while others plan to take it “day to day” and let customers decide.
Tallia Hart, CEO of the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce, said business owners and consumers need to be able to make their own decisions in relation to wearing masks.
With ongoing economic uncertainty and concern, she said, a mask recommendation is just another frustration business owners have to deal with.
“We’re putting too much red tape on businesses to the point where they are suffering to operate,” she said. “People have very strong opinions about this and it’s more like if this is just a recommendation, then let’s leave it at that and make sure people understand.”
Peter Rumble, CEO of the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber of Commerce, however, said consumers have become more accustomed to wearing a mask when they’re not feeling well or for their personal protection. He believes a recommendation to mask up is going to be typical for the next few years.
“We all just look at it in a different light,” he said. “People can make a choice based on how they’re feeling and their level of risk, and if it stays like that, I don’t think it’s a real big deal at all.”
Keven Brown, owner of Corrick’s Stationary, Gallery & Gifts in downtown Santa Rosa, said he’s letting his customers decide whether or not to wear a mask.
He said while the store won’t require customers to wear masks, he’s noticed many of his customers already have started to sport them.
“We’re not instigating that people wear masks but I think (officials) are watching out for the health of the public,” Brown said. “A couple of people on my staff have been wearing masks all along and many don’t but I think it’s a personal responsibility.”
The same is true for Sarah Katz, a hair stylist at Pomegranate Salon in Santa Rosa where most of the workers have continued to wear masks and allow customers to make their own decision.
“We’re accommodating as far as what people feel comfortable with, but we’re comfortable wearing masks,” Katz said. “Some people will ask for one (a mask), some people will have their own and some people will say no so that’s basically how it’s going here.”
Michael Rex, owner of Russian River Books and Letters in Guerneville, said he’ll wear his mask if five or more people are in his shop.
He’s noticed more people coming into the bookstore are wearing a mask, but he has no plans to start requiring them, he said.
“It’s a day by day thing,” he said. “I think it’ll just be normalized where around this time of year, we’ll see more people with masks than you normally would.”
Sara Edwards is the small business and consumer reporter for The Press Democrat. You can reach her at 707-521-5487 or sara.edwards@pressdemocrat.com. Follow her on Twitter @sedwards380.
