Douglas Scott: How happy would you be if your surgical team was unmasked?

To The Daily Sun,

There is a growing body of evidence highlighting the importance of wearing face masks to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The main arguments against them: “I don’t want to,” or “They aren’t necessary.” As a physician who has spent 30 years caring for this community I hope the following might change some minds.

We currently have no treatment for this virus. We’ve all heard this by now, but it bears repeating. Your best strategy is to avoid getting it.

1. Wash your hands/avoid touching your face,

2. Maintain appropriate social distance,

3. Avoid contact with the airborne virus, or, in other words, wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth.

To those who question the effectiveness of a mask in reducing the spread of coronavirus, there is abundant data coming out of areas where routine mask use is the norm to confirm that. Or, if you don’t trust the studies, ask yourself how happy you’d be going in for surgery if your surgical team showed up and none of them had put on a mask. Masks work.

To those who feel the virus isn’t enough of a problem in our area yet, how did the areas that are currently surging get started? Wouldn’t you rather continue to live in an area that is not reeling under the effect of a surge? Wearing a mask is easy, effective, and, above all, considerate of others.

The mask you wear helps protect those around you from the possibility that you might be broadcasting virus when you exhale. If you think you can’t get used to wearing a mask, think about some automatic behaviors you “learned” as a child. Most of us were raised to chew with our mouths closed, wash our hands after using the toilet, cover our mouths when we cough or sneeze. Why? We are considerate of others. Since people can get COVID, not know it, but STILL BE CONTAGIOUS, any one of us could be an unwitting source. The considerate thing to do is put on the mask when out in public.

Finally, do you want to be part of the chain of transmission? This virus has reached pandemic levels because it is very easy to catch and pass along. While it is not usually fatal, it can have devastating consequences. After clearing COVID, some people still experience long-term effects like lung damage, strokes and blood clots.

Even well-fitted and worn properly, masks will not provide 100 percent protection, but they help. We have a window of time when we can still avoid becoming the next hotspot. With all our summer visitors, it is extremely important that we all get really good at wearing masks right now.

Call a friend who is living in Florida or Texas or California or Arizona. Ask them, if they knew a month ago what they know now, would they have chosen to do anything differently. Ask them if they are wearing masks .

Douglas Scott

Moultonborough