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Opinion: Joe in Burnaby won’t wear a mask, but says his girlfriend must

I saw a tweet recently that I wish I had saved for this column because it captures perfectly how women are taking precautions far more seriously than men.
Masks

I saw a tweet recently that I wish I had saved for this column because it captures perfectly how women are taking precautions far more seriously than men.

The tweet remarked on how frustrated she is to see so many couples in which the woman is wearing a mask, but the man isn’t.

It’s true. I’ve seen this over and over and over again - masked women walking with men without their faces covered.

Last week, I was on vacation and enjoying a pleasant meal out on a sunny patio, trying to ignore the smoke filling my lungs from the U.S. wildfires.

The table that was in earshot had six people sitting down – four women in masks, and two men without masks.

After everybody had ordered and the server had walked away, the four women removed their masks.

One of the men, Joe, had one of this terrible smirks that cocky dudes have pasted on their faces when they think they are smarter than everyone else.

“Oh, you feel safe now, dear,” Joe said to his girlfriend, condescension dripping with every word.

Joe then admits that he wants his girlfriend to wear the mask because she occasionally goes into the office for work, while he works at home.

“But you don’t ever wear a mask when you go out,” asked one of the women at the table. Joe just shakes his head.

The other dude actually pulled out a mask and showed it to the table, saying he should wear it more, but “I just hate it.”

I don’t know what’s worse, someone who carries a mask around, but doesn’t use it or the cocky dude who just flat out doesn’t bother.

It’s no wonder B.C.’s pandemic problems keep mounting.

The steady rise in the number of British Columbians suffering with COVID-19 infections continued on Sept. 18, with the government revealing that 1,803 people have the deadly virus. That is more than six times the 278 people provincewide who had active infections at the end of July.

The number of active infections was helped by another day with a substantial number of new cases. There were 139 new infections detected by the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) overnight. That is the second largest number of new infections that the province has reported within a 24-hour period, following the record 165 new daily cases reported yesterday. The rise in new cases has come with an increase in testing. 

The province also added 40 new cases that it called "historical," which were for people that tested positive between August 11 and September 16 but did not have personal health numbers. As a result they had not previously been added into the province's official data, provincial health officer Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a joint statement.

The vast majority of those infected are self-isolating at home, although 59 people are sick enough to be in hospital, and 20 of those individuals are in intensive care units. 

Three people have newly passed away from the disease, making the province's death toll 223 since the first death was reported on March 9.

So with all of these cases, it’s painful to watch someone as ignorant as this dude continue to ignore advice to wear masks.

  • With Files from Glen Korstrom

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.