Recently, I’ve been appalled by the actions of some of the elected officials serving on the Androscoggin County Commission who have actively refused to wear protective masks.

Wearing masks is a simple measure that would allow members of the public to have safe access to county commission meetings, not to mention promote the importance of scientifically-sound public health and safety precautions in the midst of a global pandemic. Personal ideologies have clearly taken precedence over their service and responsibility to their constituents. There is no virtue in their refusal to wear a mask, no ideological or moral high ground for them to stand on. It’s selfish, and it’s shameful.

It reminds me of another debate over public safety and personal freedoms that raged in the 1980s: The debate over seat belts.

A majority of Americans opposed the use of seat belts being enforced by law, arguing that the government was infringing upon their personal freedoms and trying to steal their rights away. Sound familiar? Yet today, each and every one of us gets into our car and fastens our seat belt without thinking twice. We do not cry tyranny, we do not claim we are being oppressed by a piece of cloth. That would be ridiculous. In fact, we are thankful to have them when a deer darts across Route 136 in front of our vehicle at dusk and prevents our family from injury or death.

We should have that same gratitude for protective masks, yet it’s important to note one glaring difference: seat belts were developed in an effort to save lives on a long-term basis against an infrequent threat to our safety. Masks are a safety measure against a short-term and severe threat to our lives and the lives of our neighbors.

With mass vaccine distribution on the horizon, yet an increase in cases and deaths combined with the discovery of more infectious variants of the disease, now is not the time to give up the fight or ease up on masking. That would be illogical.

To continue with the seat belt comparison, imagine the steering wheel in everyone’s car suddenly breaks down, causing cars to swerve uncontrollably into one another (the recent rise in cases and deaths and the introduction of variant strains). We know a fix is being developed (the vaccine), yet a vocal minority decides that this is a good time to oppose wearing seat belts (protective masks). It doesn’t make much sense, and, quite frankly, it’s dangerous.

So here’s what I have to say to those county commissioners I mentioned earlier: I know you’re tired of wearing masks. So am I. We all are. Your frustration is not unique, it is universal, and so is the threat that this pandemic presents to our lives.

The same people who filled in that oval next to your name at the ballot box are the same people whose safety and lives you so quickly and easily dismiss by refusing to wear a mask.

They are the lives of our first responders, our teachers, our frontline workers, our medical personnel, our small business owners and everyone else who has so graciously and selflessly sacrificed their own safety and livelihoods to keep our community operating, surviving and, in some cases, thriving.

They are the lives and livelihoods of our BIPOC neighbors and communities of color who have borne the brunt of the longstanding inequities that this pandemic has both highlighted and exacerbated.

From our best tracking, it took one infected traveler from China to spread the virus across the U.S., which has now lost nearly 500,000 lives to COVID-19 and continues to grapple with the suffering of millions at the hands of the resulting economic crisis.

If anyone still thinks that one person’s actions are irrelevant in our fight against the virus, they need to think again.

It is the duty of every elected official to put our personal beliefs aside and to model best behaviors for our constituents. Anything less makes a mockery of the great responsibility we have been entrusted with.

Kristen Cloutier of Lewiston represents Maine House District 60.

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