Tracing app enticing, but masks are simpler

When Justin Trudeau was finally able to announce a smartphone app for COVID-19 contact tracing on Thursday, the excitement in his voice came as no surprise to anyone who’s been following that file closely.

The prime minister is a bit of a geek and veers towards giddiness when he talks about the possibilities of technology. And the promise of an app that would help Canadians open up the economy, get back to work and keep a second wave of coronavirus under control is just so enticing.

As solutions go, however, the app is far from magic. It’s fraught with issues around division of powers, efficiency, inclusion and privacy — which is why it has taken weeks just to get to the announcement stage. That’s also why it’s only going to be rolled out in one province — Ontario — for now.

There is another solution, though, that is not nearly as glamorous but might be equally effective and would certainly be a lot simpler to roll out: mandatory masks.

After a short period of controversy at the start of the pandemic, public health authorities have come to love nonmedical face masks. They are both affordable and easily available these days. They require no federal-provincial negotiations or international protocol around respect for privacy. Their rules for proper usage are simple and low-tech.

And more importantly, they give customers, business owners and workers alike the boost of confidence that will be so vital to revving up the economy again. Accompanied by careful distancing and lots of handwashing, masks can help create the conditions for a safe restart.

And yet, the Business Council of Canada only includes a passing reference to masks in its list of five things businesses should do to make their workplaces safe — masks show up in brackets in the council’s recommendations for “respiratory etiquette.”

Trudeau loses his enthusiasm when he is asked about why they shouldn’t be mandatory.

And U.S. President Donald Trump said he believes some people are wearing masks to signal their disapproval of his presidency, rather than as a preventative health measure.

It’s true that masks can be used for political messages — the words “I can’t breathe” were ubiquitous on masks worn by anti-racism protesters this month.

But their use also sends a broader, more subtle message: If almost all of us wear masks, we can work together to mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19 and reopen the economy with confidence.

Research in the United States and the United Kingdom concludes that widespread wearing of masks significantly pushes down the rate of COVID-19 transmission. Italy and New York have had much success.

But Canadians have heard little more from Ottawa than a polite request to wear masks when they’re out in public.

“At the national level, we agreed to recommend the use of non-medical masks in the context of communities where the virus is still circulating or has recently circulated in areas where you can’t keep that physical distance,” Teresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said earlier this week.

And when it comes to places where you’re required to wear them — say, on public transit, for instance?

“That is a matter that is being determined at the local level,” Tam said.

For sure, masks aren’t foolproof.

They don’t cure COVID-19. There’s a built-in cultural resistance that decision-makers always point to. Some people should not wear them at all, for health reasons.

At the beginning of the lockdown, Trudeau and Tam hesitated to recommend them for fear of using up precious supplies of high-grade medical masks that were desperately needed by health-care workers.

There was also a lack of understanding of the value of simple cloth masks. The messaging has changed now, but some public skepticism about masks remains.

But those aren’t reasons to give a half-hearted request to wear a mask in public. Those are reasons to mandate them, with a set of very clear rules and well-defined exceptions.

One of the biggest concerns for the economy right now is that even if we aren’t hit by a second wave of COVID-19, consumers and workers will be so fearful about catching the virus that they won’t show up for the reopening.

An app that tells us if we’ve been in contact with a contagious person certainly holds promise, especially if almost everyone signs on.

But that will take time, access to a smartphone and considerable communication to the public to reassure them that their privacy will be protected. The app might be really helpful, and let’s certainly hope for that.

We can all put on masks right now, however, and urge the decision-makers to follow the public’s lead by adding some rules.