No one can seriously question the burden that this pandemic has exacted on the health care sector. Front line workers have unselfishly subjected themselves to the increased risk of contracting COVID-19 and many have died or become seriously ill. They must also live with the fear of infecting their loved ones. They are overworked and exhausted. The virus has also taken a disproportionate toll on the elderly and those with health problems. Anything that can lower this contagion rate in our community reduces risk to our health care heroes and our most vulnerable. Yet those who refuse to adhere to the safeguards or advocate against following them can contribute to an increase in the prevalence of the virus and potentially put us at greater risk.

Those who refuse to follow sound medical advice or government regulations may have reasons for adhering to their beliefs. Some face financial ruin because they have lost their jobs, or the mandated safeguards no longer make their businesses economically viable. There are conspiracy theorists who maintain that COVID-19 is a hoax perpetrated upon us by governments. And others believe as citizens of a free and democratic country they should be able to make decisions and act on them individually and without regard to how their choices and actions may impact others.

 Although the anti-maskers would oppose the regulations and the sanctions for non-compliance, they would rather acknowledge society’s remedy for breaching government regulations as a fine or imprisonment than ever supporting the loss of any health care.

In my opinion they actually have a point. As taxpayers they are just as entitled to medical care as any other member of our society. A person in a free and democratic nation should not have their rights to health services determined by that person’s beliefs. Do we deny cigarette smokers medical care because their second-hand smoke may be dangerous to others and their health care costs are disproportionately more expensive? We may next also want to deny criminals or terrorists health services. But what does that say about us and our society. There is a slippery slope here. Menachem Begin was Prime Minister of Israel but was also recognized at one time as a terrorist by the British before the establishment of the modern state of Israel. Who else could be deemed unacceptable? Jews in Nazi Germany were also refused government services because of their religion. Denying medical care to citizens may be expected in a totalitarian state, not a western democracy.

Yet, if two patients, one an anti-masker and the other a responsible compliant citizen, are both suffering identical life-threatening health conditions and in immediate need of the only remaining ventilator, I have to admit that I see a better way to decide who gets the ventilator than by flipping a coin.