Should we all be required to wear masks in public spaces?
CoronaVirus Disease 2019 also known as COVID-19 has spread outside China where it originated from all over the world causing a global pandemic such that policymakers have had to come up with ways of preventing the spread of this virus. There is no cure or a vaccine that has been proven and the only way to minimize the spread of the virus is to reduce transmission. The transmission of the virus is yet to be clearly stated in that the experts say the virus is present in droplets that originate from an infected person. The symptoms moreover are not specific in the early stages of infection and thus conventional ways of containing the disease are isolation, contact quarantine, compulsory social distancing coupled with wearing masks which have so far proven to be at least helpful (Leung, Lam & Cheng, 2020). It is however questionable whether these measures are sustainable in the long run especially in the economy we live in.
This begs the questions if it is really necessary to wear masks while in public areas especially considering the reasons why people are against it. Having witnessed the death tolls in different countries which never took the necessary caution and how their economy has been affected it is necessary for countries to strictly impose restrictions such as social distancing, the wearing mask rule in public as a way of minimizing the spread of the disease especially in large crowds and public areas but these measures are very ineffective like mask-wearing.
The COVID-19 virus has been shown to remain alive and harmful once left on surfaces for hours and the surgical masks have been used over time to block the aerosol transmission (Greenhalgh, Schmid, Czypionka, Bassler & Gruer 2020). Patients infected can also take up to 2.5 days to start showing symptoms and wearing masks can prevent them from unknowingly transmitting the virus. This would mean that the people around them, the elderly and the uninfected would somehow be protected from the infected individual. It is said that it is advantageous to put on masks in public because the stigmatization of infected patients or symptomatic individuals would be eliminated. Individuals will be protecting themselves and keeping themselves safe from any potentially infected persons. The COVID-19 pandemic is no hoax as many presume and it is evident in the rising new cases, deaths and the strain it has had on the health system (Feng, Shen, Xia, Song, Fan, & Cowling, 2020). The majority of the policymakers have assumed the worst-case scenario which may involve many infected people and a health care system that can not handle the number of cases.
Wearing masks has proven to have many loopholes on its effectiveness, the impact it has on the resources of the users economically and also the fact that it hinders the public’s liberty right to choose what they want. As much as leaders need to come up with necessary precautions to protect their people, the ways have proven to create chaos that might heighten the transmission rate rather than flatten the curve. The wearing of masks is one of the ways we can be able to help the health workers that are in the frontline since we will reduce the number of new cases they deal with (Feng, et, al. 2020). It should be noted that demand for the masks will create a shortage for the healthcare workers who must work endlessly to protect themselves from the virus as they treat those infected.
This shortage of demand creates a risk for the public and the health workers to be exploited by being given fake masks that have no capacity of protecting them from the virus.
There are several controversies whether the wearing of masks coupled with other measures stop the spread of the virus at all. The public questions the mask prevention measure since the scientific knowledge on the issue has so many loopholes. For starters, WHO, which is the most trusted health organization recommends not wearing masks in public settings since they have yet to find credible evidence that it helps prevent transmission. The organization has a limited number of options as alternatives regarding the global pandemic (Leung, Lam & Cheng, 2020) but it still maintains that it is yet to prove if wearing a mask will prevent an infected individual from transmitting the virus. It is noted that the lack of evidence from the most credible health organization in the world has given the public more reasons to discard the wearing of mask guidelines.
The issue that has been addressed on wearing masks is also on the materials that they should be made from so that they can be effective. The CDC recommended the three-arm makeshift cloth mask that has yet to be tested on the general public (Greenhalgh et, al. 2020). The failure to test the recommended mask had left the citizens at risk of being exploited and sold to or provided with masks that are substandard and even reused by patients who had the virus. The guidelines on how masks should be worn in public and even who is supposed to wear the masks are unclear. The medical practitioners have more than once said that masks should not be worn by children below two years as their breathing capabilities can not handle the pressure that comes with wearing masks. The elderly also have had difficulties with masks as they cannot be able to breathe well while wearing them and it is better if they do not deteriorate their health conditions further using precautions that are yet to be proven as effective.
Most individuals in public also wear masks incorrectly and thus are not helping with the situation, they wear incorrectly and still end up getting infected and infecting others in the process. It is, therefore, best that the public is given the right to choose whether to wear masks or not by themselves and not be forced because it is their liberal right. Those that choose to wear should be taught how to go about it so that they do not deter the situation further which is highly likely.
Works cited,
Feng, S., Shen, C., Xia, N., Song, W., Fan, M., & Cowling, B. J. (2020). Rational use of face masks in the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 8(5), 434-436.
Greenhalgh, T., Schmid, M. B., Czypionka, T., Bassler, D., & Gruer, L. (2020). Face masks for the public during the covid-19 crisis. Bmj, 369.
Leung, C. C., Lam, T. H., & Cheng, K. K. (2020). Mass masking in the COVID-19 epidemic: people need guidance. Lancet, 395(10228), 945.