KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Many people see renewed mask recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a step backward, according to a Kansas City-area psychologist.
“People want to believe that we are further along than we actually are," said Gregory Nawalanic, a clinical psychologist with University of Kansas Health System. "They fail for some reason to make the connection between the behavior of wearing masks, and the progress that we made up until a few months ago when the mask mandate was repealed initially."
There has to be a willingness to come together, according to Nawalanic, whether vaccinated or not. And many people who refuse to wear masks, he said, are acting off of emotion versus facts.
“We have to think about our behavior being congruent with out thoughts and our beliefs," Nawalanic said, "and I think that that’s a lot of what we are seeing right now. Their thoughts and beliefs differ so widely from the facts that they are behaving in concordance with that rather than listening to society and making informed decisions."
However, at this time, Nawalanic said, those refusing to wear masks are causing society to take a step back. In order to combat the spread of COVID-19, Nawalanic said the best thing to do is follow the facts and wear masks.
“I would love to see all of us come back, grasp our humanity, come together and really try to find some type of support in our community," he said.
