Although, of course, honeybees can't sneeze with their rudimentary respiratory system, the story of Henry and his struggle with adversity was motivated by two reasons and the hopes of solving these problems, and overcoming adversity.
The first reason was that I hope it helps provoke thought on the ecological causes that are really troubling our honeybees, such as hive collapse, which has devastated bee hives around the world for a number of years, and continues to be researched, whether it's caused by organisms, pesticide toxicity, or other undiscovered causes. And now, more recently, honeybees are plagued by the monster murder hornets from Japan that are able to quickly kill a hive when left unchecked. Hopefully, this story will help to focus interest in solving these problems.
The second reason I wrote this story, really was not as a mandate to wear masks, and is much less a mandate than an encouragement for young children who might be struggling with an illness, an immune deficient disorder, or facing the side effects of chemotherapy, to see Henry the Honeybee as a mascot, of sorts, a buddy, and a support for them to identify with, and feel they are not alone in their struggle to deal with adversity.