There are few issues more controversial in our society than the wearing of face masks. Anti-maskers see them as being an infringement on their personal freedom, whether they are mandated or not, while the pro-mask camp sees them as a valuable tool in protecting and maintaining public health.

You may be surprised to learn that I come down somewhere in the gray middle ground. While I’m against mandatory mask mandates, except under the most extreme circumstances, I am in favour of wearing a face mask to protect one’s health, say on an airplane, but most importantly as a prevention in spreading communicable diseases such as COVID or the flu.

We all have a responsibility to not knowingly make other people sick It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about an STD or the flu, one rule should be clear – keep it to yourself. It’s called “common courtesy”.

It also doesn’t matter whether it’s a pre-schooler attending a day care, or grown-up going to work. If you’re sick, stay home, and if you can’t stay home, at least have the common courtesy to wear a face mask so you’re not making the people around you sick as well.

I have several friends who are schoolteachers who are outraged over the number of people who are sending their kids to school hacking and wheezing with runny noses and no protection.

The situation is similar in a number of work spaces where people insist on going to work despite obviously being sick. This is especially true in places where people don’t have paid sick leave and it’s being exacerbated by an early serge in flu cases.

It’s gotten so bad, in fact, that Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, is “strongly recommending” that Ontarians wear masks in all indoor public settings, including schools and childcare settings; however, he stopped short of recommending a return to a mask mandate in the province, which is the way it should be.

Like I said earlier, I am against legislated mask mandates. If you are not sick, you shouldn’t have to wear a mask. And if you are afraid of getting sick, then you should either get vaccinated or wear a mask – or both. But that’s an individual decision.

If you are sick, then you should absolutely be wearing a mask. To refuse to wear a mask and knowingly risk making those around you sick is the height of selfishness.

If there is one absolute truth it is that masks significant lower the risk of transmitting an airborne communicable virus. It doesn’t eliminate the risk altogether, but it does significantly lower the likelihood or probability of an individual spreading the virus.

So if you’re sick and you insist on going to work, riding the bus or going to school, mask up. Or better yet, just stay home.