The mask works, Cuomo insists
Public service campaign will encourage use of face coverings in public
New York City has been North America’s grim natural laboratory for coronavirus. So when New York’s governor says the city’s experience shows the benefits of wearing a mask, it’s worth taking note.
On Wednesday, at roughly the same time that Canadians were hearing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam advising people to wear masks to protect from COVID-19, New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo was talking about what he said was their “amazing” effectiveness.
“What shocks me to this day, and I would have lost a lot of money on this bet — how do front-line workers have a lower infection rate than the general population?” Cuomo said at his daily COVID-19 press conference. “How can it be?” he asked. “They’re wearing the mask. The mask works. Those surgical masks work.”
Jon Zelner, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan, disagrees with Cuomo’s explanation for front-line workers’ lower infection rate.
“That is a totally unreasonable conclusion to draw from these data,” he said. He pointed out that front-line workers have higher testing rates, which lead to lower infection rates showing up — among other possible explanations.
But still, he says, wearing a mask is a good idea.
“I don’t think we need to wait for this sort of evidence to conclude that it is a worthwhile activity, particularly for preventing transmission from infectious but asymptomatic individuals by absorbing droplets that otherwise might be dispersed into the air,” he says.
Likewise, infectious disease expert Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia University says Cuomo’s conclusion doesn’t follow from the evidence he cited, but he also agrees that “use of face masks is effective and very important for helping control the virus.”
Cuomo began requiring New Yorkers to wear masks in public in mid-April, and on Wednesday was announcing a public service ad campaign urging people to wear them. Other U.S. jurisdictions have mandatory mask-wearing orders for those shopping or otherwise interacting with others. Though widely observed, these guidelines have been sometimes controversial. Threats of violence have accompanied objections to mask restrictions, and at least one shooting death followed a request by a store security guard for a shopper to put on a mask.
Canadians seem less likely to react so violently, but anyone looking to the U.S. for advice might land on a conclusion similar to that currently offered by Canadian public health officials. There’s not enough evidence to draw absolute conclusions.
But health experts increasingly agree that wearing a mask when you’re out among other people is useful, especially if everyone does it.