Life behind the mask: Face coverings leave SLO County residents annoyed but determined
Walking into a business in San Luis Obispo County in the middle of a global pandemic can feel like stepping into an entirely new world.
Floors near registers are marked with tape or decals, carefully spaced to keep customers six feet apart. Shelves are routinely bare of toilet paper or bleach wipes, and signs announce limits on how many each customer can purchase.
But the biggest change for a lot of people are the masks.
Since San Luis Obispo County began advising people to wear face coverings when out in public where it’s difficult to maintain social distance, residents have begun sporting brightly colored, often handmade masks as they go about their shopping.
The masks lend a measure of anonymity, hiding mouths and obscuring features, so it can be difficult to visibly determine exactly how people feel wearing the new accessories. An informal Tribune poll of readers showed San Luis Obispo County residents have a complicated relationship with masks.
Many said they found the masks uncomfortable.
“I hate it,” one reader said, while another person said their mask “fogs up my glasses.” “They’re hot,” another person said.
Some said they refuse to wear them. Others jokingly said they felt like they were kids again, playing games like Cops and Robbers as they sported bandannas in the grocery aisles.
From communication issues to safety concerns, the masks pose some difficulties for many San Luis Obispo County residents. But most agreed that the temporary inconvenience of covering half of one’s face pales in comparison to the alternative.
“It feels like I can’t breathe, and gives me anxiety and fogs up my glasses, but I’m doing it anyway to try to flatten the curve and protect the vulnerable,” one reader told The Tribune.
“I embrace the slight inconvenience if it can help stop the spread,” another said. “This is much bigger than myself or my comfort.”
Why SLO County is wearing masks
In early April, the federal Centers for Disease Control reversed its earlier position on wearing masks as a preventive measure during the global coronavirus pandemic.
Prior to that, the CDC had said there was no evidence that face coverings could stop the spread of COVID-19. The agency was cautious to recommend face coverings, for fear that people would begin hoarding the medical-grade masks needed at hospitals, already difficult to find.
As the national death toll grew and evidence mounted that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carriers were unknowingly contributing to the spread of the disease, the CDC changed its tune.
Public health officials soon followed suit.
On April 9, San Luis Obispo County Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein encouraged residents to wear face coverings when in situations where social distancing is difficult, while also urging people to continue to stay at home.
“Staying home as much as possible is the single most important thing you can do to stop the spread of this virus,” Borenstein said then.
Face masks won’t prevent you from getting sick — at least, not directly. Those coverings are meant largely to prevent people who already have coronavirus, but might not be exhibiting symptoms, from spreading the virus, according to the CDC.
Her son ‘bit a hole’ out of paper mask
For some people, though, wearing masks can be difficult.
San Luis Obispo resident Shawn Rath said she doesn’t mind wearing a face covering — another opportunity to wear a fun accessory, she joked to The Tribune in an interview April 17. Her 7-year-old son, Beauregard, is another story, however.
The first time the pair went out in masks was to a doctor’s appointment, Rath said, and her son was wearing a bandanna over the lower half of his face, nestled beneath his glasses.
“He said, ‘People are going to think I am a robber,’” Rath said. “Then at the doctor, he bit a hole in the paper one I put on him.”
Rath said her son, who has high-functioning autism, was especially sensitive to the paper mask and hated not being able to breathe. He also didn’t like that his glasses would fog up while wearing it.
Since then, she said its been difficult to get him to wear a mask.
This creates issues when the two need to go out of the house, but Rath said she has found ways to minimize the time her son has to spend wearing a face covering. They don’t wear masks when they’re in the car or when they go to walk the dog, she said, and when she needs to go to the store for groceries, Beau stays with her roommate.
“None of us have been able to get Beau to wear them, but I think in time as I continue to reinforce the safety issues he will comply,” she added.
Deaf woman feels ‘stress and heartaches’ over face coverings
For Rene Franklin of Paso Robles, face masks are more than just an inconvenience. They’re a barrier between her and the hearing world.
Franklin, who was born deaf, said the masks make it impossible for her to lip read when customers come to speak with her as she’s stocking shelves at her job at Target.
Normally, when approached by customers, she’s able to look at their lips and figure out what they were saying. If that proves difficult, she tells them she is deaf, Franklin said.
Many people will respond in sign language to her or write messages on scraps of paper they have on them or on their phones.
But since more customers have started wearing masks, “It’s gotten worse for me to let them know I’m deaf,” Franklin said. People don’t respond as well, she said, and often give up in frustration.
“It does make me feel stress and heartaches — I try to get them happy and whatever they need,” she said. “I understand they need to wear their mask for their own safety. Deaf world and hearing world are different.”
Even more than the difficulty with communicating, the masks also represent a larger fear for Franklin: What happens if she gets sick and is hospitalized?
In a hospital, doctors and nurses are required to wear masks — what if they can’t take them off when treating her? Would her husband and kids be required to wear masks when they’re with her? How would she communicate?
This fear of isolation weighs heavily on Franklin as she goes about her day. She and her family don’t wear masks when out in public, she said, because she needs to see her children’s mouths and facial expressions.
That angers some people they encounter.
“This situation we are all in has caused many people to be very cautious, yet rude and not willing to take a few extra minutes out of their day,” she said. ”We are the same as hearing people, but our world separates us just a little from hearing people.”
“It’s a lot frustration growing,” she said.
Police chiefs say they’re ready to handle mask-wearing criminals
People covering part of their faces also pose an interesting conundrum for law enforcement: Could masks lead to an uptick in crime?
Paso Robles police Chief Ty Lewis said though he is “certain there are criminal elements within our communities that will test their ability to avoid detection” by wearing masks, he believes that the benefits far outweigh the risks.
“From my perspective, this is all about balance,” Lewis told The Tribune. “As police officers, public safety is always our primary concern. Under these unique circumstances, I believe the need to wear masks outweighs the potential difficulties with identifying robbery suspects.”
While some may try to take advantage of the situation, Lewis said he feels confident that his department will still be able to “identify and arrest any would-be criminals.”
In Grover Beach, police Chief John Peters said people should be aware of the potential repercussions of joking around while wearing a mask in a sensitive location such as a bank.
“Obviously, it’s important for everyone to understand if they are in a retail or banking environment that it is not a good idea to joke around while wearing a mask,” he told The Tribune. “The person should not make statements or exhibit behaviors or actions that could be taken as threatening or criminal by others. They run the risk of having the police called on them, and we never take those behaviors as a joke until we have fully investigated it.”
Peters added that his officers are well trained in how to make contact with people in “various states of dress” and that no additional training has been needed to help them in the field at this time.
“All the officers are wearing masks too, so it is a mutually masked conversation sometimes,” he said.
Grocery store employee hopes masks won’t be ‘new normal’
Despite their difficulties, masks have presented an opportunity for some laughs around San Luis Obispo County.
Tara Liberato, who works at Albertsons grocery store in Morro Bay, said that when the recommendation first came out for people to wear face coverings in public spaces, she and coworkers saw some improvised masks that were interesting, to say the least.
“It has been comical some of the stuff we have seen coming into the store,” she laughed. “A lot of the weird stuff we saw at the start of this.”
That included people wearing masks upside down, as well as ninja wraps, paint respirators and even a gas mask. She’s even seen people with hoodies tied around their heads or pulling their shirts up to cover the lower half of their faces.
Liberato’s favorite was a guy who walked in wearing a Casper mask with tape over the mouth.
Over the past few weeks, as more people have had time to buy or make masks, the unusual ones have faded out of style, she said.
Now it’s more usual to see customers in one of the myriad of brightly colored fabric masks.
Liberato wears masks given to her by her mother-in-law, sister and union, she said, though she would of course prefer to not have to.
The first time she wore one out of the house, “It gave me anxiety,” Liberato said. “I kind of felt like, ‘What the hell is going on? This is America. This shit doesn’t happen in America.’ ”
“I hope it’s not going to be the new normal,” she added. “I don’t want to wear a mask all the time. I don’t like to, but I will.”
How to properly wear a mask
Working at a grocery store, one of Liberato’s biggest pet peeves is watching people wear their masks wrong, she said.
“I like that people wear them, because it protects us,” she said. “But at the same time, it makes people touch their faces, and a lot of the time people will pull their masks down to talk to us.”
Liberato said that she also sees people touching items in the store and then messing with their masks.
That’s counterproductive to the masks’ purpose.
At a news conference April 17, Public Health Officer Borenstein demonstrated the correct way to wear and care for a mask.
Masks should fit snugly over the nose and chin, she said.
To keep the masks clean, you should not grab the mask by the fabric part, she said, but instead by the edges or straps, to keep the main surface as uncontaminated as possible. People should also store the mask in a clean place such as a brown paper bag, not in a purse or a pocket, she said.
Before taking it on and off, you should use hand sanitizer or wash your hands, she added. The masks should also be washed daily with hot water and soap or detergent.
For more information on how to properly wear a mask, visit the county’s COVID-19 website.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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