Unmasked: the Reality of Life on the Streets of New Haven

Yesterday I realized what my county needs - free masks, widely distributed. Why isn't this being done?

I boarded a bus to get to Milford to my doctor's appointment yesterday, an event so traumatizing that I had a nightmare the night before. The issue is not with the driver or how the bus companies have smartly set things up - rides are free because one cannot venture farther than a roped-off portion at the front - but dealing with other passengers. There are a few types:

1. The individual who is casual about his or her mask and just slowly puts it on when he or she has already boarded the bus;

2. The individual who is already wearing a mask and behaving in a civilized manner;

3. The individual who, for some inexplicable reason, is using the mask as an excuse to loud-talk with the driver, therefore spewing droplets as he/she speaks;

4. The person who is unaware of everything going on around them, perhaps for reasons of mental illness, including the requirement to wear a mask;

And then five, the person I am asking the State to help during this pandemic - the individual who would wear a mask but does not have one. I saw a woman seated without a mask and asked, "Where's your mask?!" She: "I don't have one."

It's not as effective to simply use a bandana to mask our aerosol droplets, but it's better than nothing, so I don't know why this person hadn't fashioned something. Many people on the bus are neither reading nor watching the news, or if they are they only know that the President of the United States does not care about masks.

Governor Lamont, Congresswoman DeLauro: Get masked volunteers or better yet paid workers out in the County to provide free masks to people waiting for the bus, please. Our infection rate as of this writing is 116 per 100,000 individuals in New Haven County. We have suffered 999 deaths from 11,673 cases. Why is more not being done to help people who can't afford cars, Instacart, Amazon deliveries and second homes in Vermont? What is being done to support the essential worker who must ride the bus? I am sick to death of how blind some can be: that Dunkin' Donuts does not allow one to pick up food if she does not have a car (drive-through!); that there is a CVS check for those with cars (not those on the bus!); that Husky Health CT is prohibiting Telehealth care to Medicaid recipients who want to speak with their specialist providers (it is allowed for GPs). Sick of it.

If the Black Lives Matter movement isn't teaching American society about how to listen and care for everyone then what will it take? Getting masks out on the streets is a simple thing. I have given away my extra mask when I have one (I am not often on the bus). Let's get out there and do this, Connecticut.

PHOTO:By AlexChirkin