Although local hospital technician Max Little is required to wear a face mask for his shift, the Bee Cave resident said he also dons the covering every time he goes out now, whether it’s a quick trip to the gas station or grocery store.
“Wearing a mask is your best bet when making sure you do your part to not contract (coronavirus), and if you have the virus and don’t know it, you will be limiting the possibility of giving it to others,” he said.
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But not all Lake Travis residents share Little’s sentiments. Local police departments can’t enforce mask ordinances in Texas despite encouragement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, county judges and city officials to wear the face coverings. The issue has created a dichotomy of views within the lakeside community, with some social media posters citing political parties, provoking personal insults and calling other members uncomplimentary names.
“At this point, it’s a political divide, not a medical or scientific (one),” Lakeway resident Rich Schmitt said of the local face mask discussions. He said he wears a mask to stores but not in a restaurant or at a friend’s home.
Schmitt compared the recent local controversy to Lakeway’s polarizing debate over managing the city’s deer population.
“Why wouldn’t something like a virus response be like that too?” he said. “To me, a virus response isn’t a political issue. It’s not about where we should spend our money or should we put more in education. I look at it as a mystery.”
Lakeway resident Bob Walder said he doesn’t wear a mask and prefers that others, including restaurant servers, not put on a face covering because he believes the incorrect use of masks is more likely to do him harm than no protective equipment at all. However, he said he practices social distancing and will don a face covering if he’s asked or required to.
Little advocated community members wear masks as a “best practice” to avoid spreading the disease further, including to immunocompromised individuals such as Janet Sopp-Sims. After undergoing chemotherapy, the Lakeway artist said she stays home, wearing a mask in public and only shopping when necessary. As a pregnant woman who serves the over 65 population—some of the most vulnerable individuals to the virus—Lakeway audiologist Jasmine Burrington said she wears a mask “as the right thing to do for societal good.”
Many of the community’s more low-risk residents advocate wearing masks while outside homes. Jenny Foersterling said the measure was easy and respectful to first responders and essential workers “who are risking their health to provide for the rest of us.” Resident Bryan Kelley, whose mother lives in a nursing home and brother is in a cancer study, said he and his family wear masks out of respect for those who are “high risk.”
Lakeway resident Rob Floyd said he wears a mask to protect others and his community. “The only way we can stay open and increase openings is to keep the infection rate low,” he said.
Lakeway Council Member Louis Mastrangelo falls squarely on the side of wearing a mask and likened the notion to second-hand smoke exposure.
“Smokers — and I used to be one — do not have the right to jeopardize the health of others by exposing them to secondhand smoke,” he said. “Not everyone who is subjected to secondhand smoke will have health consequences, but the risk is too great. That premise became so accepted, it is now law.”
Angela Thompson, who lives in Bee Cave, puts herself in the middle of the debate. She said she doesn’t wear a mask because she, along with seven out of eight household members, tested positive for the coronavirus antibody.
“I don’t wear a mask now but I do carry my results now just in case someone feels I’m offending someone in some way,” Thompson said.
Hudson Bend resident Kim Ortiz has been sewing masks for the community for the past couple of months while her Hill Country Galleria photography studio remains closed. She said she’s recently seen a lot of negativity toward businesses by patrons who won’t frequent an establishment that requires them to wear masks.
“Personally, I won’t go into a restaurant if they don’t require you to wear a mask,” Ortiz said. “I feel like that’s exposing everybody.”
Vivel Crepes & Coffee in the Oaks at Lakeway maintains a policy that staff and customers wear masks except while eating or drinking.
Executive Director Virginia Ramsey reopened The Oasis on Lake Travis on May 13 with limited seating, requiring not only her staff wear face masks but all patrons as well. Customers must wear the masks from the restaurant entrance to their table and back out again, taking off the mask once they reach their seats, she said. If diners don’t have a mask with them, employees will give them masks, but if they reject the face covering, they won’t be allowed in, she said.
“We’re making it as safe as possible so we’re asking guests to wear their face coverings,” Ramsey said. “We’re trying to protect each other and our staff.”
She said she hasn’t had any push back from patrons to date but the measure hasn’t been without controversy on the restaurant’s social media account.
“It’s really difficult to be politically correct for every single group that’s in the city,” Ramsey said. “Some don’t want to wear masks, some do.”
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