Clothes, gas and food were rationed during WWII.
Women famously worked in factories and more than 20 million victory gardens sprung up around the nation by 1945, accounting for about 40% of all vegetables, according to the University of California’s Master Gardening Program.
Pictures from this newspaper’s own archives show that many people complied with the recommendations during the Spanish Flu to wear facial masks.
There are scores of examples in this nation’s history of Americans putting the health and safety of friends, family and strangers first.
This is part of the reason it is so troubling that the simple acts of wearing face masks and staying away from others during the coronavirus pandemic is so troubling.
It does, of course, not help – and, in fact, harms - that as COVID-19 cases and hospitals continued to rise, Ohio House members shot down a resolution that would have required them to wear masks in the Statehouse. This happened after lawmakers and statehouse employees tested positive for coronavirus.
It is common for many unmasked state lawmakers to shout and close-talk for hours inside the House and Senate chambers.
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That behavior smacks in the face of what scientists and the vast majority of both Democratic and Republican governors tell us.
Citing rampant spread of the coronavirus as a result of banquets, weddings and social gathering after funerals, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine emphasized that private and public events should be no more than 10 people.
In the name of protecting frontline workers and customers, he toughened the state’s mask order earlier this month.
· Each store will be required to post a sign outlining face-covering requirements at all public entrances to the store;
· Each store will be responsible for ensuring that customers and employees are wearing masks; and
· A new Retail Compliance Unit, composed of agents led by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, will inspect to ensure compliance. A first violation will result in a written warning and a second violation will result in closure of the store for up to 24 hours.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
“What each Ohioan does in his or her own life impacts every citizen and every place we desperately want and need to keep open– our schools, nursing homes, hospitals, and businesses,” DeWine said then.
No matter how you slice it, he’s right.
We are one state in one nation on one planet. What we do impacts each other.
Putting the greater good first comes down to us - all of us - doing the right thing and setting an example for each other – not because there’s a government mandate. There should not be a need for an order.
Every leading expert says that mask and social distancing, while not 100% effective, help slow the spread of coronavirus, which has ramped up in Ohio and the rest of our nation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says masks offer some protection to users, but more importantly greatly help those around them.
Social distancing ― staying at least 6 feet from other people not from your household while indoors and outdoors ― is effective because COVID-19 spread happens “when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, and droplets from their mouth or nose are launched into the air and land in the mouths or noses of people nearby.”
There are people with legitimate health reasons that prevent them from not being able to wear masks or social distance, but that is just a small group.
No one wants to wear a mask, but isn’t it worth doing so if it could help slow the spread of coronavirus and reduce the number of deaths while we await distributions of vaccines?
America was no doubt changed by the world wars, and life resumed after rations were lifted.
Mask mandates will be ultimately lifted. We hope to keep as many people around as possible until that happens.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, it is clear that putting the greater good first by wearing masks and socially distancing is the most American thing any of us can do.