Letter to the Editor

‘Everyone should just wear a *#&@ mask’

Friday, July 3, 2020

Letter to the Editor:

“Everyone should just wear a damn mask.”

That’s what U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a conservative Republican from Florida, said on June 24 as COVID-19 cases surged again in his state and many others.

Epidemiologists at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the prestigious University of Washington Medical School in Seattle have calculated: If 95% of all Americans would begin wearing masks immediately in every public indoor setting, an estimated 33,000 American lives could be saved by Oct. 1.

Sadly, many young adults have returned to “life as usual” by crowding into bars and onto beaches with little regard for social distancing or masks. In Florida, that has resulted in the mean average age of virus patients plunging from 65 earlier in the spring to the current 35 years of age. Young folks are NOT immune, as some have been led to believe, and they are spreading the virus unknowingly to parents, grandparents and older friends.

Recent research shows that even a cloth, “non-certified” mask provides some protection to the person wearing it. But the PRIMARY role of the mask is to prevent the wearer, who may have an asymptomatic case of the virus without knowing it, from spreading the disease to others through talking or coughing; many people seem not to understand this.

Increased testing has revealed more virus cases. But the primary cause of the recent sharp increase has been the crush of people ignoring suggested prevention guidelines. At the end of June, at least 12 states including Missouri once again are seeing COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rising.

Many states opened up their economies without waiting for hospitalizations to decline for a specific period, as recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And, the general public in many areas has ignored social distancing and mask-wearing. As a result, at least 16 states now have been forced to slow or halt re-opening plans.

YOU WEAR A MASK MAINLY TO PROTECT OTHERS. Not wearing one, if you understand the basic purpose, simply has to be considered as a selfish act that disregards the welfare of other people. Now, TODAY, is the time for all of us to observe the Biblical command to “Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself.”

To those of you who think wearing a mask is some sort of infringement on your personal liberties, consider that you are legally required to have a driver’s license, liability insurance and secured seat belt to operate a car. Motorcyclists must wear a helmet. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects and other professionals and tradesmen/women must be licensed to assure their competency. Wearing a mask to protect your fellow citizens is no different.

The United States has the best medical experts in the world. They are telling us to take three practical, compassionate steps:

• Maintain at least a six-foot social distance.

• Wash hands properly and frequently.

• WEAR MASKS in all indoor public settings.

Increasingly, our infectious disease specialists are stressing the immediate importance of personal responsibility in slowing down this virus. They are saying that curtailing the virus by following these three major guidelines NOW will be just as important as development of an effective preventive vaccine will be in the FUTURE.

If all the retail and service establishments in Poplar Bluff and other Missouri cities would join together in requiring customers to wear masks it would make a huge difference in the spread of the virus locally. Business sales would not be affected and lives ultimately would be saved. Such a requirement already is in place in many places across America, including Kansas City.

This relatively simple commitment would be a hugely generous gesture for the greater good of our local community, especially considering the high percentage of elderly (vulnerable) citizens in Butler County. Let’s just hope that we haven’t waited too long.

Our area still has a relatively low number of COVID-19 cases. Requiring masks now would be the best and easiest way to slow the spread of the virus. Flu season will begin in just a few months. The medical experts already are warning that if COVID-19 isn’t slowed down by then, America could see even worse challenges to our health care system with hospitals overflowing and a critical shortage of medical workers trying to fight both diseases.

As Sen. Rubio bluntly said:

“Everyone should just wear a damn mask.”

John R. Stanard

Poplar Bluff