Just when we had gotten used to that feeling of not having a mask on our face, the debate over whether to mask in public has resurfaced with a resurgence of COVID-19.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this month determined that Idaho's Ada, Elmore, Valley and Lewis counties are at high community risk, because of an increase in new hospital admissions per 100,000 people in the past seven days, the percent of beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and the number of new COVID-19 cases per capita in the past seven days.
Based on those numbers, the CDC recommends all residents in those counties wear a well-fitting mask in public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status.
That raises the debate once again whether to institute a mask mandate.
Boise city officials already discussed the possibility this week but chose to hold off on making any changes.
We all know where the Central District Health board stands. Led by Raúl Labrador and Ryan Cole, that board last month voted to remove any language about wearing a mask from its website and literature, referring instead to the CDC and letting people make up their own minds about whether they should wear a mask.
When it comes to wearing a mask, people are tired. When it comes to mandates, it’s clear some people won’t listen, and because Idaho’s public health laws provide for only a misdemeanor for violations — rather than a citation and a ticket, like for speeding — enforcement is untenable.
We still don’t know if this latest wave of COVID-19 will be as severe as previous waves, which at times put Idaho in a state of emergency standards of care.
We hope that doesn’t happen again, as predominantly unvaccinated COVID-19 patients took up so many resources in Idaho’s our health care system, it limited the delivery of health care to non-COVID patients. That’s why your decision not to mask and not to get vaccinated affects others, not just yourself.
Issuing a mask mandate in high-transmission areas is the right thing to do, but it’s likely a waste of time, effort and angst.
We hate to let the bullies win, but the blowback and temper tantrums that mask mandates would set off wouldn’t be worth the trouble. And a mandate without enforcement wouldn’t compel scofflaws to do the right thing, anyway.
That leaves the rest of us reasonable people to do the right thing.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Wearing a mask works in slowing the spread of coronavirus.
Study after study has shown masks work.
A large, randomized trial led by researchers at Stanford Medicine and Yale University found that wearing a surgical face mask over the mouth and nose is an effective way to reduce the occurrence of COVID-19 in community settings.
The researchers enrolled nearly 350,000 people from 600 villages in rural Bangladesh. Those living in villages randomly assigned to a series of interventions promoting the use of surgical masks were about 11% less likely than those living in control villages to develop COVID-19, and the protective effect increased to nearly 35% for people over 60 years old, according to the study, published in September.
Yes, it would be better if everyone wore a mask, but barring that, the more of us who wear a mask, the better off we’ll all be.
Unfortunately, in the absence of a mask mandate, it will be left once again to businesses to encourage mask wearing indoors, at concert halls, shops and grocery stores.
In the meantime, let’s all do our part for the benefit of all. Wear a mask indoors around others, and let’s stem the next wave of COVID-19 before it gets out of control.
