We have begun a daily feature asking community people to tell us why they ask and encourage everyone to wear face masks as much as possible while we struggle through this pandemic.

As we read through the many comments posted by the internet geniuses that still are denying the virus exists, denying the virus is deadly, denying that masks can be of any help, and denying the Earth is round, we see a need to continue to hammer the point home.

The doctors and the scientists really do know more than the internet specialists whose second cousin told a friend of a neighbor who met someone in a bar that knew how to putt and therefore was certain that a former mayor had used chemical warfare on his opponents and so there is no virus.

Right, that is a completely nonsensical sentence, and anyone willing to still claim the 276,000 deaths in the United States from COVID-19 are really just people that have died and as part of a conspiracy all the doctors in the world agreed to lie about are about as mislead as those lemmings that jump off cliffs.

The difference is the lemmings are only killing themselves, and the anti-mask and COVID-deniers are going to kill friends, neighbors, co-workers and families.

But let’s take a different approach. Let’s accept the claim that masks don’t prevent the spread of the virus despite all the medical professionals’ opinions. Instead may we argue the point that the masks may be why flu and pneumonia cases are down this year?

It isn’t a conspiracy by the hospitals and doctors to hide anything; flu and pneumonia cases are down probably due in part to fewer germs being spread by masks, social distancing and other safeguards.

Those are all good things, right?

Of course, but until someone close to them has a close encounter of a deadly kind with COVID-19, they are going to stand by the internet geniuses and roll the dice all the while calling others silly childish names such as snowflake and sheep.

So our hope with this new series of local articles (see first one below) is that by chance someone that each of you know or trust will convince you that we really are in this together and that wearing a mask is one of the easiest yet best ways to help us get through this pandemic.

Wear your mask!