23-28 A What’s behind a mask?

The chief cultural emblem of our times is this: Wearing a mask. Or not.

These low-tech, high-impact, low-cost coverings are so simple and effective at helping reduce the COVID-19 infection rate that our top political leaders’ failure to produce, distribute, and require them en masse when the pandemic first spread ranks somewhere between stupid and criminal. But while our “leaders” failed, the people themselves have led, rapidly turning homemade mask-making into a booming cottage industry and a charitable act.