To the editor:

Let me get this straight – Sen. Rep. Ty Masterson objects to Gov. Laura Kelly’s statewide mask mandate because such a mandate would “strip people of their individual freedoms and liberties.” Really? Is he still pulling out that well-worn argument? By his circuitous logic, we should now abolish seat belts because highway deaths have declined over the years, in large part due to seat belts and airbags, the former of which car producers objected to vociferously. Or allow people to have “one for the road” because drunken driving accidents have come down?

I remain flummoxed at how Sen. Masterson and other like-minded politicians hold that my wearing a simple cloth mask when out in public or in a crowded store impugns my rights and liberties. Doesn’t Sen. Masterson know that public health is just that – public? Does he need reminding that wearing a mask during a pandemic that has killed nearly half a million Americans both protects the mask wearer and those around them and has played a key role in helping reduce positivity and hospitalization rates? If he’s not following CDC guidance on the need for continued mask wearing as an individual way to help stop the spread I wonder where Sen. Masterson is getting the information that leads him to believe wearing a mask would strip them of their freedoms and liberties?

David Teska,

Lawrence