Masks as protection from COVID
Let me say first that I will admit when I am wrong.
A couple of weeks ago, I criticized op-ed writer Todd Peterson for making the assumption, before the fact, that a Danish mask efficacy study conducted some six months ago, would find that surgical masks did not work to stop the spread of COVID-19.
That study was released recently, and indicated that as a protection from COVID-19, casual mask wearing, in Denmark, in the spring, by unsupervised individuals, provided perhaps at best, a 15-20 percent possible reduction in contracting the virus. The study’s proponents had hoped for a 50 percent reduction in cases. The results: 1.8 percent with a mask and 2.1 percent without, were reported as COVID cases. Not statistically significant. So basically, Mr. Peterson’s assumption about the study’s results proved correct.
Technical studies, that is mechanically testing masks and face coverings in general, in the lab, did show resistance to penetration of virus-sized particles through the materials, however. The large caveat in the Danish study, is, of course, the human factor. If you look around town, you will see examples of what “wearing a mask” means to different people. I’m guessing that having your nose exposed, is not the best configuration.
There is no question that face coverings can help reduce the spread of the infection from infected individuals, unless maybe they take off their mask to cough! And, since most COVID-infected individuals are asymptomatic, wearing a mask even if you feel fine, is the right thing to do.
Think about, for example, the Rose Garden super-spreader event. If everyone had worn a mask, that would have included the “spreader” significantly reducing the chances of anyone else catching the disease. Wearing a mask, even if the Danish study were the only study available (it is not), would have given the rest of the attendees even a few extra percentage points of protection.
The bottom line is that, along with the other actions recommended by the CDC, NIH, etc., wearing a mask just makes sense, unless you really don’t care, who lives or dies. I’d like to believe that Americans are not that self-centered.
So. Was I wrong? Well, technically, I criticized only the assumption that the study results would turn out much as they did. But really, I had obviously made some assumptions of my own, so guilty as charged!
But please, just wear the damn mask. It is a lot more that a “courtesy.”
Paul Donnelly New Fairfield