Discards

Here in King County, Washington, masks are to be worn in indoor places open to the general public, and for any outdoor event where there will be 500 or more people. They're touted as the second-best response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic after becoming vaccinated. But for all that, they've become an everyday sight as litter as well as a prophylactic. I don't recall a day recently in which I haven't seen one on a lawn, in a street or by a sidewalk. Even last year, when masks were in demand and difficult to come by, the disposable nature of many of them meant that there was a time when one had a better chance of finding one discarded in a park than in a drugstore. And now that they are readily available, the need to keep up with them has lessened, and they are becoming ubiquitous as trash.