Wouldn’t it just be easier if everyone in the state was forced to wear a mask because COVID-19 numbers are rising again in some areas of the state?

That’s the reasoning many Democrats are using to pressure Virus Overlord Jared Polis into declaring yet another one of his statewide orders, this time to mandate the wearing the masks.

Polis is so far refusing to follow in the footsteps of hot spot states like California, New York or Texas to declare anyone caught bare-faced in public as a Typhoid Mary or Matthew.

Instead, the governor is sticking to his “education” plan of sharing mask shaming social memes that teach the public absolutely nothing about the benefits and shortcomings of wearing masks or how it could slow the virus’s spread.

That’s because Polis can count on local health departments to mandate the masks for him. 

The Tri-County Health Department is the latest to issue a mask order, but Douglas County is planning to pull out of the system rather than comply. Municipalities can also opt out.

The Denver Post reports 20 cities and counties including Denver, Boulder and Aspen — have mask orders for public spaces or businesses. 

As the pandemic first spread across the U.S., officials at the CDC said at that time masks would do little to help the situation, then. Masks and other PPE were needed by hospitals.

Now the virus is spreading so quickly in some states, not necessarily Colorado, that officials there are ordering statewide mask mandates to slow the spread.

Masks have been politicized. There is no putting that genie back into the bottle.

But if the key to stopping the spread is the wearing of masks, then the solution to get the public on board is education, education, education.

Even Polis in his characteristic arrogance acknowledges an unenforceable mask law cannot be enforced. 

The public does not have ready access to the proper medical masks that can protect us from contracting the virus, but we can wear cloth or dust masks to keep our own germs in check to slow the spread.

Not stop it, but slow it.

Colorado could avoid the hot spot tipping point altogether if politicians would learn to educate with what few facts are available, rather than mandate because they’re too damn stupid or lazy.

Repeatedly telling us to just wear the damn mask, as was Polis’s response to whether he would enact a mask mandate, is not helpful.