Why I want you to wear a mask: I am a full-time single parent of two children, one of whom has moderate autism with severe behaviors. I am a 49-year-old man of moderately good health, I have been a vegetarian for over 30 years, I eat well, exercise, and probably have an average risk factor to COVID 19. However, I need to be ultra careful, because there is nobody who can step in and care for my autistic child. No family member, no baby sitter, no nanny, just me.
So what would happen if I were hospitalized? My autistic son would have to be taken by social workers who, though trained, would have no idea how to handle him. He would engage in self-injurious behavior and potentially attack those tasked with caring for him. He would be ripped from his routine, his home, and his safety bubble, and cast to the proverbial wolves. The effect would be horrific on him.
That fact haunts me night and day, and makes me take extraordinary actions to stay safe, not for my own sake, but for the sake of my child.