Was Kafer’s argument against masks right or wrong?
Re: “I will not wear a mask despite the mandates,” Nov. 28 commentary
My husband and I were taken aback by last Sunday’s op-ed piece by Krista Kafer. In our view The Denver Post acted irresponsibly by indulging Kafer’s dangerous rhetoric that is clearly contrary to accepted standards of public health and well-being.
Lois Paul and Barry Sharcot,
Denver
78,000 Americans dead.
If our wearing of masks saves one or two lives, would that be OK with you?
Maybe next time you have surgery, you should tell the OR staff to skip the mask-wearing, since you haven’t seen conclusive proof that it helps.
Bill Naylor, Denver I was saddened and disappointed to read Krista Kafer’s Op-ed using her platform to announce her refusal to wear a mask despite mandates. She picked several studies showing mask ineffectiveness. Yet, the same day as her column appeared, Dr. Anthony Fauci was on Meet the Press advising masks should be worn in public by both the vaccinated and unvaccinated.
When Gov. Jared Polis announced he would not mandate masks, he said people who need to wear them the most would ignore a mandate anyway. He appears to be correct, as Kafer has shown us. She also argues that a “small effect on the course of the pandemic” does not justify the mask mandate.
We have mass hospitalizations in Colorado and elsewhere of the mostly unvaccinated that have prevented NON-COVID patients from accessing medical care they need. This is no small effect. If these people had at least worn a mask, they might have helped themselves and others.
She also points out there are breakthrough cases among the vaccinated. We wouldn’t have them if everyone had followed mandates from early on and got COVID-19 under better control.
I endured chemotherapy and radiation for cancer treatment in 2020 and 2021 and I don’t want to get COVID-19 now from someone following the “my body, my choice” philosophy while disregarding expert advice. I limit my life because I worry I might get COVID-19 from someone choosing not to follow recommendations from experts. I’m not alone in this situation.
As is often said, it is not just yourself you need to think about with COVID-19. We’re all in this together.
Lee Ann Clements, Aurora This is a first (almost)! I agree with Krista Kafer. In the metro counties that just instituted a mask mandate, vaccination levels are high. I can find no studies at all addressing the marginal value of masks for preventing the transmission (emitting or receiving) of COVID among vaccinated people. The consensus does seem to be, “well, we have to do something, and this can’t hurt.” It hurts me; I’m thrice vaccinated, plus flu shot, and I’m done wearing one.
I found her source article and read it. I had already read the Danish study it referenced, as well as some other meta studies. Where the studies reviewed found masks to be highly effective, there were two important caveats. First, all predated vaccinations. Second, researchers often rated the risk of bias in the study as strong to critical.
We have passed from pandemic to this coronavirus being endemic. This is our life. I am so sorry for our health care workers who are burnt out. Part of adapting our lives is adapting our health care. Would nurses, doctors and others be less burned out if unvaccinated COVID patients were prioritized after all other emergency and intensive care cases, and given serious intervention only if resources remained?
Chris Armstrong, Denver