masking up for the future

The governor of Jalisco issued a "stay at home order" several weeks ago.

I would like to be more precise on the time, but the restriction has caused its own temporal warp. With one day merging into the other in beige uniformity, it is difficult to tell the difference between a day and a month. Probably because a day can feel like a month -- but never the other way round.

When Mexico issued its stage three alert, it told all old people (people 60 and older) to stay in their houses and not to leave except for essential business. I was a little confused about the age-specific reference because everybody was to stay at home except for essential business.

Apparently, Walmart in Manzanillo was not confused. It refused entry to at least one couple I know because, even though they were masked, the appeared to be older than 60. They were -- and are.

And, no matter whether old or young, those venturing outside their front door were to be masked with little concern about the type of mask used -- anything from Dr. Kildare to a member of the James gang. Zorro and the Lone Ranger would not meet the low hurdle. Wrong mask.

But, then, most of the people on the streets of these little villages are non-compliant. And have been since the order was issued. Masks are mainly absent.

Or that was true until recently.

There is almost always a small crowd milling around in front of the Oxxo near my house. When I wandered by yesterday afternoon, I noticed something odd. Every person in the knot of socializers was wearing a mask. Most of them medical-quality masks. And everyone going in and coming out of the store was masked.

The store door has had several notices taped on it since the coronavirus started working its way through Mexico. The first was a helpful guide on hand-washing, face-touching avoidance, and social distancing. A couple of weeks later, it was joined by a sign that only 5 customers at a time would be admitted.

I do not know how effective the first sign was, but the second was uniformly ignored.

Yesterday there were three new signs -- all announcing a new regimen. No one would be admitted to the store without a mask. I assume the clerks must have been enforcing the rule because there was not a bare face in the house.

It seemed a bit odd that the mask rule was being touted just as the federal, state, and local governments are talking about easing back on the social shut-down orders. If all goes as planned, the local authorities will modify beach access today, the state government will ease the "stay home" order on 18 May, and the federal government may announce on 1 June that Mexico needs to get back to work.

All of that is inevitable. No people can thrive in a world where their livelihoods are taken from them. The world will be facing a recession that may rival the Great Depression. Letting people get back to work will help in the long process of re-building a stalled economy.

The trick, as everyone knows, is how to do that without encouraging another coronavirus outbreak -- or exacerbating one that it is still in bulldozer-blade down mode, as it is in Mexico's large cities.

Maybe that is the reason for Oxxo getting the new religion. If more people are going to be out and about while the virus walks amongst us, social distancing will be one of the best tools to attempt overwhelming hospital beds with patients.

There are those who claim wearing a mask is a futile gesture. I am not part of that group. But, even if that is true, masks are good reminders to take the simple measures we all learned when the virus was but a dim globe on the horizon. I will confess that my hand-washing routine has almost returned to what I did in The Before Times.

For what it is worth, this Oxxo store is the only business I have encountered that is enforcing the mask rule -- with the exception of Intercam in San Patricio. None of the other Barra stores where I shop have taken that step.

When I saw the sign yesterday, I did not have a mask with me. In truth, I usually do not. I carry a bandana in one of my reusable Hawaii shopping bags, but it was not the bag I had with me. Instead of putting the clerk in an awkward position, I walked home to retrieve my bank robber kit.

I know the sign works because it forced me to start thinking about wearing my bandana more often. If the country starts on the trek to normal in the next month, we will all be well-advised to play the health game.

Like the poor, we will always have the virus with us.