Why on earth are masks still an issue?

There are all sorts of sacrifices we have had to make in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That some of the restrictions are controversial is understandable. In many cases, it's a matter of someone's livelihood. In the case of schools, it's a matter of a child's education. With long-term isolation comes an indisputable public health cost.

So even when we disagree, we can understand the controversies and the passions that they sometimes arouse.

But masks?

What is so hard about wearing a mask?

If you think the problem is just in southern Illinois, think again. The city council of Naperville, a 100,000-population suburb of Chicago, just voted 5-4 against a mask mandate, with scores of public comments in opposition. Mayor Steve Chirico, who cut and run after getting into hot water for a trip to Florida for his daughter's wedding, suddenly decided that Florida knows more about masks than the Centers for Disease Control.

Really? We're all going to argue over masks?

Almost 1,000 people died in Illinois last week as a result of the coronavirus. The suburbs, like southern Illinois, are hot spots. On the day the Naperville City Council took its vote, this year's COVID-19 death toll in the suburbs alone was 5,537. That's 43% of the state's fatalities.

And a mask is too much to ask?

There's an argument that wearing a mask is a matter of personal choice. That argument is based on the false premise that only the mask wearer is protected by the mask.

And it's based on a false premise that it doesn't hurt if people who are at low risk for severe outcomes get the disease. Spreading the disease kills people! When the disease is surging, it goes everywhere. When the disease is surging, it ends up, for example, in nursing homes.

How is a mask too much to ask?

The CDC says that if we all wore them, we'd significantly limit the spread. If we all wore them, it would not only save lives, it would allow us to reopen the economy safely.

Where is our sense of altruism? Where is our concern, not just for ourselves, but for our neighbors, for the front-line workers we encounter, for the public good?

Requiring mask wearing, some say, is unconstitutional, an infringement on our liberty. What about wearing seat belts? Or pants? Does the Constitution protect public nudity? Are those who are going to war over wearing masks willing to go to war over wearing clothes?

The preamble to the Constitution says, among other things, that it is set forth to "insure domestic tranquility" and "promote the general welfare."

In other words, the spirit of the preamble is: Be a good neighbor, look out for the other guy, do what you can to ensure we're all safe and happy.

Love thy neighbor. Wear a mask.