Masks, Politics, and Christians.
(My thoughts as a Christian emergency medicine physician.)
Another elderly patient in my emergency department whom I had to admit to the hospital because they had COVID-19, bilateral multifocal pneumonia, and a new oxygen requirement (needing supplemental oxygen to keep their oxygen saturation above 90%).
They caught it from a specific person who wouldn’t wear a mask “because COVID really isn’t a pandemic, and masks don’t actually make any difference anyway”. That specific person was with a large number of people the day before they developed symptoms, which means they were unknowingly spreading the infection to numerous people. Now that specific person is recovering well at home (they are younger and healthier), while my patient is in the hospital and in poor condition.
Guess what else I saw today?
People sharing on social media how all the people who wear masks are sheep... they are full of fear... they are gullible... they are pawns... they are promoting fear as a virtue... and they are ultimately unable to see behind the lies.
Some of those people were my brothers and sisters in faith.
But you know what?
They are wrong.
I have not been scared of this virus.
I have said from the beginning that my concern was not overwhelming death from the virus, but that our medical systems may get overwhelmed. We have come very close to that... some days it feels like we have crossed over that point. But then the next day is a little better.
I have been exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. But that’s my job.
And I have never been afraid.
I never wore a mask out of fear.
I wore a mask out of love.
I am not a hippy, “all the world needs is love” kind of guy. I don’t use this word lightly.
What I am taking about is a real, “love your neighbor as yourself” kind of love.
As a Christian, I am talking about a self-sacrificing, servant-leadership kind of love.
I am taking about an inconveniencing yourself so that another person might benefit kind of love... even if you never see the fruit of your work and you get no credit for the sacrifice kind of love.
Personally, I survived COVID.
My symptoms were not fun, but I recovered. So did my wife and kids. So have most of my friends who got it.
But not all of them... and definitely not all my patients. I get to see the sickest COVID patients pass through my emergency department, and many of these patients still go home. Unfortunately, many of them have died.
This is the unfortunate consequence of a life-threatening pandemic. We were never going to get through this without some loss.
But what pains me most are the people who die that might have lived if the people around them lived their lives with love instead of trying to prove a political point.
I spent 8 months working in the Emergency Department seeing COVID patients every single shift. I have easily seen multiple hundreds of patients who are known COVID positive. I didn’t catch COVID for that long, because masks work.
As humans, we have been given the gift of discernment. We have the ability to know that not everything is black and white... all or none.
I know there are people who will use this pandemic to push political agendas. These people pose real and tangible threats to our liberty. I firmly believe this is true.
But that doesn’t mean we need to forget Christ’s command to love your neighbor as yourself.
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