As a culture war rages across the nation over whether to wear protective masks, closer to home the battle is spilling over into store aisles and shopping center parking lots with alarming frequency — and at times violent consequences.
Los Angeles police this week announced the arrest of two brothers who allegedly assaulted store employees and a security guard who attempted to escort them from a Target in Van Nuys for refusing to wear masks. The guard sustained a broken arm in the brawl captured on video that has since gone viral.
Elsewhere in Southern California, many are reporting hostile encounters with complete strangers over face coverings — the latest line of demarcation in the polarizing debate over stay-at-home orders and moves to reopen the economy. And the dispute has exposed the confusion that exists over the effectiveness of masks to combat the spread of coronavirus and the patchwork of government and retail requirements over their usage.
For 17-year-old Mia Walls, a resident of Spring Valley Lake near Victorville, that boundary was crossed during a frightening incident on May 7.
Walls, who didn’t have a mask because hers was at home being laundered, had just parked her pink 1994 Ford Probe and was entering a local post office to pick up a package containing the cap and gown she intended to wear for her senior class portrait.
Walls, who is white, said she opened the door for a middle-age African American man who was wearing a head covering, a protective mask, sunglasses and black gloves.
She added that after entering the post office the man walked behind her and murmured that “white people don’t wear masks.” “We then both separated and I brushed it off,” Walls said.
But they soon met up again on the way out of the post office.
Walls said the man’s disparaging racial comments intensified as he followed her halfway to her parked car. Mortified and shaken, she got inside the vehicle and broke down.
“I was hysterical,” said Walls, who immediately phoned her mom and best friend. “It was scary. I am the last person to be racist toward anyone. It was heartbreaking.”
Coincidentally, 55-year-old Stephanie Gaulin of Huntington Beach was also heckled in a parking lot late last month. She pulled her Toyota RAV4 into a space at Stater Bros. grocery store in Huntington Beach, put on a mask, pulled on a pair of pink gloves honoring breast cancer survivors, and got out her car.
Gaulin had only walked a few feet when a woman standing nearby suddenly began shouting at her. “What are you afraid of? The virus?” the woman asked, sarcastically. “She was laughing at me like I was some sort of freak.”
Beverly Young, an 63-year-old Anaheim Hills resident, was shopping at a Costco last week in Yorba Linda when a customer tried to enter the store without a mask before she was stopped by an employee. When the woman acknowledged she didn’t have a covering, the worker handed her one.
“The woman put it on, took a few steps and then pulled it down around her neck,” said Young, who was stunned. “She did it on purpose. It wouldn’t have hurt her to wear it.”
Psychology and the pandemic
Mixed messages from government leaders about the extent of the health threat from coronavirus, misinformation gleaned from social media and anxiety are likely factors fueling the bad behavior, said Vaile Wright, a clinical psychologist and senior director of health care innovation for the American Psychological Association.
“This is an incredible situation that none of us ever expected to have to deal with,” she said.
Some people resist authority because of “control aversion,” defined as the urge to rebel against control of one’s own decisions, Wright said. “People who are angry and frustrated tend to act out,” she added.
COVID-19 masks provide a level of anonymity for bad actors and inconsistent messaging about the virus, perpetuated by social media, fuels anxiety and distrust, according to Wright.
“For example, two months ago we were saying the masks don’t help and now we are saying they can help,” she said, adding those on both side of the COVID-19 debate tend to gravitate to information that reinforces their beliefs.
Research from the SARS outbreak of 2003 and Ebola epidemic of 2013 has shown there is a much better mental health outcome when messaging from leaders is consistent, clear and based in science, Wright said.
Conflicting rules
Contributing to the confusion and anxiety felt by some are Southern California’s hodgepodge of COVID-19 policies and regulations governing face masks that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and store to store.
Los Angeles County requires all employees at essential businesses as well as their customers to wear face coverings. Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own health departments, and the city of Los Angeles have adopted similar orders. Those who visit Los Angeles County beaches as they reopen also have to wear face coverings.
In Riverside County, rules governing COVID-19 masks have changed several times.
On March 31, Dr. Cameron Kaiser, the county’s public health officer, merely requested that residents cover their faces in public. Then just four days later, he ordered everyone in the sprawling county — from Corona to the Colorado River — to wear coverings that could include bandannas, scarves or neck gaiters whenever they leave home.
Under pressure from a growing chorus of residents who had developed a distaste for the coverings, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors unanimously requested that the mandate be rescinded. As a result, wearing a mask in public is now a recommendation, not a requirement.
San Bernardino County has seen a similar evolution.
After initially recommending face coverings in early April, Dr. Erin Gustafson, the county’s acting health officer, formally ordered all residents to wear them outside of their residence. But that order was amended earlier this month and presently only recommends that residents wear masks.
The changes in Riverside and San Bernardino came after the sheriffs of both counties made it clear they had no intention of enforcing face-mask mandates.
Orange County requires face coverings for all essential business employees and recommends that people wear them in public.
Fullerton, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Seal Beach and Laguna Beach all require essential business employees and customers to wear masks.
Some stores more restrictive
To further complicate matters, some businesses have adopted stringent face mask rules that supersede orders imposed by municipalities.
Last week, retail giant Costco, in a bold move that has drawn praise from some and the threat of a boycott from others, took a hard-line approach, requiring customers to wear face coverings at stores nationwide.
“We know some members may find this inconvenient or objectionable, but under the circumstances we believe the added safety is worth any inconvenience,” Costco President Craig Jelinek said in a statement. “This is not simply a matter of personal choice; a face covering protects not just the wearer, but others, too. In short, we believe this is the right thing to do under the current circumstances.”
Target, another major retailer, complies with all local regulations governing the use of protective masks by its employees and customers, according to spokesman Konnor Schmaltz.
“We’re providing team members with high-quality, disposable face masks and gloves to wear at work and encouraging healthy hygiene habits as guided by the Centers for Disease Control,” he said in an email. “If a guest doesn’t have one where they’re required, they will be reminded of the policies from our team members.”
Officials with 7-Eleven said many of its stores in Southern California, particularly those in Orange County, are operated by franchisees who are obligated to comply with all federal, state and local laws.
“7-Eleven Inc. is closely monitoring state and local regulations in relation to COVID-19,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to remind franchisees of the importance of ensuring their employees are following all state and local regulations and respectfully ask that customers do the same.”
Walmart said it also encourages customers to wear face coverings, and ostensibly requires them in cities where local orders are in effect.
Many frustrated, angry
To get a glimpse of the frustration and consternation many in Southern California are feeling regarding COVID-19 face masks, one only has to turn to Facebook.
A post earlier this week from the Southern California News Group on several community group pages in Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties aimed at gauging public sentiment about masks generated more than 900 replies.
“I believe that wearing a mask is my choice,” one person replied. “And I don’t wear one unless I’m in a situation that I feel is necessary. I won’t be bullied or shamed into it.”
Another replied with similar sentiments: “Should we all stop driving cars because cars kill? Should we ban cigarettes and alcohol? Fatty foods?” the person asked. “There are dangers of participating in this thing we call life. I am not responsible for yours. You are not responsible for mine.”
Still another Facebook user offered a competing thought. “Yes to wearing a mask out in public,” the individual wrote. “The science supports it.”
Regardless of the debate, face masks, social distancing, hand washing and other safeguards remain as the best defense against COVID-19, according to Dr. Graciela Faiad, an infectious disease physician at Kaiser Permanente Riverside and Moreno Valley Medical Centers.
“Cloth masks might be a little inconvenient,” she added. “In the big scheme … wearing a mask prevents infection.”
