Follow the advice of professionals on mask mandates

Surprisingly, I can agree with County Council members Amanda Fielder, Jessica Haire and Nathan Volke on their votes last week against emergency legislation allowing the county executive to extend mask mandates for up to 90 days. Our county health officer had the authority to impose a mask mandate on Thursday and on Friday. Why did they need an emergency vote on a health issue that is the purview of the health officer? Of course, their “no” votes should have been followed by an endorsement for Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman to extend mask requirements . He did that on Friday, and the mandate is now in effect until Jan. 31.

Jessica Haire asked when the mandates are going to end. The emergency bill clearly stated they would be in effect for up to 90 days. As for the pandemic, we don’t know when that will end, but we agree the uncertainty is stressful.

Amanda Fielder said she thinks we should consider delivering vitamin mixes to reduce hospitalizations and that she doesn’t like mandates. How does she feel about stop signs? I don’t know why Mr. Volke voted no, but all three endorsed an effort to undermine the county health officer’s authority after he issued an order.

Anne Arundel County Hospital leaders pleaded with the public in an editorial in the Capital Gazette two weeks ago.

“The smallest daily habits can make an enormous impact. Wash your hands, wear a well-fitting mask when you leave your home, practice social distancing, stay home if you are sick, and avoid crowds. Now is the time to get fully vaccinated and receive a booster shot. It is the best defense and you will be better protected from severe illness and death from COVID-19. The majority of patients hospitalized are lacking vaccination and/or a booster.”

“We’ve come so far and we will not give up. Through every new variant and surge, we are committed to serving you with all of our partners. Thank you for entrusting us with your care and for doing your part to protect your family, friends and loved ones.”

Last week, hospital leaders also reached out to County Council members, according to council member Allison Pickard. “Yes. for the first time during this entire pandemic, our hospital leadership reached out directly to County Council members about the hospital crisis.”

A unified council vote for the mask mandate would have let hospital leaders and workers know that “we’ve got your back.” It would have been a strong statement in support of universal masking requirements right now. Do you libertarians want to bring back smoking in restaurants? Sometimes there need to be rules and these are temporary ones.

And then there is Mr. McMillan. His campaign slogan should be “Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics”. As others have noted, his recent commentary opposing mask mandates was filled with cherry-picked facts and meaningless comparisons, along with fear mongering.

First a disclaimer. My day job is professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. My opinions are my own and independent of the university.

Mr. McMillan starts by comparing case rates between counties at one point in time, which is meaningless. He needs to compare changes over time by exposure. And if we are cherry-picking facts, let’s compare hospital occupancy rates in Maryland on Jan. 5: Anne Arundel County had the third highest among 20 Maryland counties with 101% of all hospital beds and 85% of ICU beds filled. Prince George’s County, where mask mandates have been in place since August, is 18th with 71% occupancy overall and 57% of ICU capacity filled.

Yes, death rates are down — partly because people are being kept alive by hospitals. But death and hospitalization rates are also down because omicron seems to be less virulent than the delta variant, and more people are vaccinated. Vaccines are working to reduce hospitalization and death rates.

Don’t confuse rates and absolute numbers of people. The peak number of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients in Maryland during last winter’s surge was 1,952 on Jan. 12, 2020; the number occupied on Jan. 8 2022 was 3,306. Rates are down but numbers are up.

McMillan begins and ends his blizzard of misleading information with the specter of lockdowns and school closures. The recent COVID bills were about extending a mask mandate amid an unprecedented surge in infections. The bill was supported by leaders of the major hospitals in our county. Get a grip.

Everybody, take a deep breath (appropriately distanced). We aren’t enemies, we live in the same communities and share resources, including hospitals. Listening to the recommendations of hospital leaders in the current health crisis is a no-brainer.