Picture a deep blue town in a deep blue state. Where, exactly? Doesn't matter. A town of genuinely kind, thoughtful, generous people, affluent--that is, w/ resources--well-educated, concerned about the world. That's my town. But it has a little problem...

My town doesn't think our state's mask mandate applies to it. Now, to be fair: right now we're doing better than almost anywhere in the U.S. Less than a case a day in our county. So maybe it doesn't matter. But that's a gamble, isn't it? 2/

My town isn't *that* special. There are towns like it all over the country. Not Trump towns, liberal towns, where people believe in masks--for other people. Case in point... 3/

Youth soccer. The other day, in our little park, three youth soccer games. Two teenage, one younger. Lots of parents. Probably over 100 people in our little park. If there was a mask, I didn't see one... 4/

I called our little police station, not to rat on anybody or turn anybody in but just to find out why our town is immune from the mask mandate. The officer said there was an exemption for athletes. Really? 5/

Well, no, clarified the officer, she wasn't sure about that. (Our mask rule has bee in place ten days.) "So our policy is not to enforce it?" I asked. She said there's no policy. But that they don't enforce it. That's a policy, I said. She disagreed. 6/

I told her I wasn't asking for enforcement, I just wanted to understand. Like right now, the park might not be safe for a vulnerable person. So the officer told me about their "masks up" policy. (I know, she said there's no policy.) 7/

The "masks up" policy means that police officers wear masks. To set an "example," she said. I asked if they talked to people who don't wear masks. She said she hadn't. She preferred the "example." 8/

I asked what to do if someone in a store won't wear a mask and gets a belligerent. She said police aren't responding to that sort of thing. She said I should ask for his name & number and send it to the state AG. 9/

Wait, I said -- if someone is acting belligerent in a store, refusing to wear a mask, *I* should confront him instead of the cops? And get him to write down his contact info? Yep. That's our town's plan. 10/

The fact is, it doesn't matter here that much--yet. But I wonder if the absence of rightwing covid deniers in such a town leads to an uptick of liberal covid bubble-ism, the unstated notion that the precautionary rules aren't really for us. 11/

To be fair, people in my town DO wear masks in the store. (There's only one right now.) They're not trying to deny anything. They're also maybe not thinking so much, at the park, about those who aren't young or healthy but might want to be there, too. 12/

School in our town is resuming full in-person, 3 foot distancing. The science in favor of this, says one of our medical advisors, is "slam dunk." He's not a rightwinger or a denier. He's well-intentioned. Maybe he'll be proven right. But that's the gamble... 13/

I was part of a conversation other day w/ someone (in another town) upset that a librarian recoiled when this person stepped closer than the six foot positioning on the ground. Low risk, almost no risk. Why is the librarian upset? Because maybe they don't want to gamble. 14/

Maybe being there, working at the library, isn't a choice for them but a financial necessity. Maybe like me they look very healthy but have heart disease. Maybe like so many of us they're just exhausted of calculating the odds. Maybe they don't want to gamble. 15/