Someone Started a Directory of Boise Businesses Requiring Masks

Tomorrow, our neighbors in Oregon will be required to wear facial coverings while visiting indoor public places. Would you feel safer if Idaho began to enforce a similar policy?

While I was getting ready for work this morning, that question was at the center of KTVB's "7 Votes" poll. It seems like Idaho's still fairly split over the answer to that question. As I'm sitting down to write this article, those responding have the edge at 60%.

If you're one of the people that voted yes, there's a new resource for you to help find businesses in the Boise area who are requiring their guests to cover their faces to slow the spread of COVID-19. Boisewearsmasks.com breaks businesses down into three umbrella categories:food and drink, retail and services. In addition to showing businesses requiring or strongly encouraging masks, they'll also let you know if the business offers a mask if you forgot yours or just plain don't have one.

Both the public and businesses owners may submit businesses for inclusion in the director, although it could take up to 48 hours for the list to be updated.

Quite frankly, masks may be the reason that I take a serious social media detox over the long holiday weekend. The level of anger expressed by those both for and against masks is absolutely exhausting. As much as I've resisted accepting that masks are now part of our everyday life in the United States, I've come to the realization that the actual action of wearing a mask isn't what's been upsetting me. It's the amount of people aggressively posting about them with SHOUTY CAPS on social media every day that's upsetting me.

Personally, I'm making the choice to wear one in public in most situations (running outdoors being the exception) but that's a decision that I wanted to make on my own, not be yelled into by keyboard warriors that I hardly know. Deep down, I feel like it's the right thing to do, so I will.