Why are we still wearing masks? It's kind and reasonable.

This week we're back at Assembly Roxy for the Radical Book Fair, I will be wearing a mask throughout- as I have done at every Lighthouse event I've run since 2020.

If the post below sounds familiar, it's because it is - I penned something almost identical around this time last year as we welcomed Naomi Klein to Edinburgh. Clearly some things do bear repeating.

I have seen first hand covid take friends to the brink of death and watched long-covid shrink the world of my dearest friend right off the page. I've had loved ones miss milestone anniversaries and First Birthdays because they were sick as dogs with Covid.

Covid-19 is shite. It can be ruthless, deadly and debilitating, or it can be just a wee bit worse than a bout of flu. Being sick can be a minor inconvenience, but it can also cost us work & income that is desperately relied on or expose a relative undergoing cancer treatment. We should all want to avoid catching it, and spreading it.

The science tells us that we can reduce viral load (and thus the severity of illness) as well as the risk of infection if we are in spaces with good airflow, and we wear masks to stop our germs spraying all over the shop.

This is how we ‘live with covid’ - by doing what we can to mitigate its existence.

Lighthouse is an indie business, I - Mairi - am the human behind Lighthouse (or the face of it, depending who you ask). I don’t want to catch Covid. I don’t want my booksellers to catch it, because I adore them, and because we can't run our bookshop when we are down a staff member or 3.

I don’t want the readers or writers who come into my bookshop to catch it. Or to worry that this is an environment where they are more likely to catch it. It’s not really something I can totally control for, but within my tiny realm I feel not only that I can but that I must, do whatever I can to lower that risk.

When I make masks a requirement for Lighthouse events, it’s an invitation to be part of collective care.

It is me, asking you all, to play a small part in making our shared spaces a little safer for everyone, but especially those for whom Covid poses extra risks. Of course there are also folk who have medical reasons for not being able to wear a mask - it is with their safety in mind too that we try to act collectively. Our asthmatic/autistic / skin sensitive loved ones are safer when we wear the masks they cant.

To all slip on a mask means those of us with care responsibilities can still attend events, disabled or chronically ill readers and writers can still attend events. YOU all can still attend events. It makes me heart-full and impossibly proud of the space we share when I look out on Lighthouse crowds and see you all stepping up for each other in this small but mighty way.

We very rarely have folk be rude about masks - get aggressive or be dismissive, but it happens, and the following I address to you:

Because this is my business, and this is my community, and these are my events, I do get to call the shots on this. If you can’t be bothered to mask for an hour and do your bit to lower our collective risk, then no you are not welcome at our events. Go forth and enjoy books and culture somewhere else.

(And yes, if that's you, I can live without your business. I know this because we never stopped requiring masks, and folk have shown up week after week and put them on for each other. Get over yourself, there are SO many bigger fish to fry.)