Mandating masks can help defeat virus

Merely encouraging use of face coverings likely won’t be enough to arrest spread of COVID-19.

Face coverings and other simple actions can help save both human lives and Georgia’s struggling economy.

Common sense and the very basics of human hygiene tell us that, and the importance of using face masks to slow the spread of coronavirus transmission should be an easy sell in Georgia, where “Wisdom” is the first word in the State Motto.

So we’re heartened that many, and at times maybe even most, Georgians out and about for necessary tasks during this pandemic are choosing to wear masks. And we’re pleased that a growing number of local governments are mandating the use of face coverings in public because too many people still are not doing so.

We’re disappointed as well that Gov. Brian Kemp has resisted adding a mask mandate to his repertoire of executive orders issued so far to try to control COVID-19’s ongoing spread. Other states have acted more forcefully to require mask usage.

Georgia would benefit from adopting current best practices in requiring mask usage when people are in close contact with others.

A mandate from the governor would carry considerable weight in convincing all Georgians that it’s time to get serious and do all we reasonably can to safeguard our health. It would carry much more persuasive heft than the state’s current campaign that merely urges people to comply.

Given the state’s rising numbers of coronavirus infections that have now occurred in each of Georgia’s counties, Kemp’s reticence sends a confusing message that could hinder both public health efforts and attempts to restart our economy.

Kemp’s insistence that a statewide mask usage requirement is a “bridge too far” seems motivated more by political reasons than the practicality of enforcing a mandate. It seems in line with the practice by some who should know better to resist, or even ridicule, wearing masks in public because that somehow infringes on individual liberties. Thankfully, that attitude seems to be changing nationally as even some former hardcore mask skeptics are coming around to their necessity as COVID-19 cases — and deaths — continue to rise.

Kemp’s reluctance seems consistent, too, with his pattern so far of exercising a lighter hand on COVID-19 restrictions than leaders of other states. Georgia locked down later than other places and began reopening earlier.

We’re now seeing where that’s led this state. Georgia surpassed 106,000 cases of coronavirus infection last week, and the curve is still pointing upward. And Georgians continue to die and be hospitalized or sickened by this virus. As of Thursday afternoon, 2,930 people had died and some 2,322 with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were currently hospitalized.

Despite the overarching goal of bolstering our state’s battered economy, COVID-19’s steady spread is itself helping damage employers, as well as the health of workers. As its spread continues, some businesses are having to temporarily shut down when workers test positive for COVID-19.

It’s hard to conceive of anything approaching a consistent economic recovery when that’s the battle Georgia’s job providers are waging each day. And the noneconomic cost in lives lost and human suffering makes it critically important for all of us to help break the trajectory of this disease’s relentless spread.

A true miracle drug or effective vaccine has so far eluded scientists frantically working to create them. In the interim, public health experts have stressed some simple steps that offer the most effective ways laypeople can act to safeguard their own health and that of others around them. A group of hospital executives, in a guest column published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week, called it the 3W’s: Wear a face mask, wash your hands and watch your distance. All Georgians with even a shred of public spirit, civic concern or human kindness should be doing that all the time now. Too many still are not.

And, in the absence of a state mandate and, sadly, the likely reality that, even if Kemp were to step up and order masks be worn in public, some jurisdictions would not enforce it out of misguided beliefs of infringed liberties, we are pleased by the local and county governments that have acted to require face coverings, or are considering doing so.

Cities like Savannah and East Point led the way, mandating face coverings even as the state essentially said they could not do that. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms joined this group last week, issuing an executive order requiring mask usage and mandating fines for noncompliance. Brookhaven and Athens have acted too. And the University System of Georgia says it will require mask usage when the fall semester begins. That’s welcome news, given that campuses can have the population of small cities, and COVID19 infections are rising among young people.

Gov. Kemp has not moved to rein in these local governments’ prudent actions. If he won’t act to require masks, he should likewise not prevent local or county governments from doing so.

We’re encouraged that spot checks on mask usage by the AJC last week showed many, if not most, Georgians were using face coverings while out in public. Their numbers should grow until all of us are consistently following the heartfelt professional pleas of public health workers and wearing masks when we go out.

If it takes additional government action to compel stubborn straggler citizens to do so as well — and we believe it will — that seems a necessary and non-onerous price to pay for our common health.

CONTRIBUTED