Letter to the Editor: Wearing masks makes sense

Dear Editor,

As a chemistry professor, I teach how science works and how to interpret data. I offer this letter as an educator in a desire to help others learn and understand a complicated and developing issue.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that Emma Cummins cited in her Collegian piece “Resist Masktopia” last week was not looking at the effectiveness of masks to prevent the wearer from being infected. That is an important point and one that I will come back to. The study was comparing two groups of similar populations that had symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and were then tested for the virus. In the study, approximately half were positive and half were negative (the control group). The authors then looked at people’s habits and demographics to see if there were any differences between the two groups. The study showed that people who went to restaurants were more likely to be infected (40.9% vs. 27.7%) and people with close contact with an infected individual were also more likely to test positive (42.2% vs. 14.5%). These are two common situations where one who normally masks would take off their mask.

I am not familiar with the California study she mentioned, however a recent study published in Health Affairs by Lyu and Wehby showed that mask mandates did lower the rates of infection in states and regions in the U.S. that required public face mask usage. The timing of their study was before the spike in cases seen in California; however, infections in California have now dropped from an average of about 10,000 a day in July and August to less than 4,000 a day currently.

One can also look at other countries and how they handled mask-wearing. In many Asian countries, wearing a mask is more common and infection rates have been much lower. For example, the city of Tokyo, one of the largest cities in the world with 9 million people, has had only 30,000 cases. Social distancing, voluntary (and temporary) closures, canceling of some large events, and a near complete use of masks among the population has slowed the spread of the virus there to a trickle.

Back to the point I raised earlier, the oft-asked question “Are masks effective?” is incomplete. Are they effective at protecting the wearer? Some studies do suggest there is a minimal level of protection from cloth masks, but others do not, it is inconclusive and still a matter of study. However, are masks effective at reducing infection rates? Yes. Multiple studies have shown as much (1, 2, 3). Masks trap aerosols and reduce the likelihood of an infected person spreading the virus. Are masks a panacea? No, they are a temporary measure along with social distancing until a vaccine or effective treatment is widely available.

Concerns about rising carbon dioxide are unfounded. As a biochemist, I can tell you that our bodies are quite adept at handling the minor increase in carbon dioxide levels caused by wearing a mask for long periods of time. Many in the medical profession wear masks all day and have done so for decades without any harm.

As Cummins noted, mask-wearing does make communication more difficult and makes it harder to connect with others. However, it is a temporary sacrifice and there are ways to deal with some of these challenges.

While I appreciate Cummins’s desire to preserve liberty, let us not forget that the Declaration of Independence places life before liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This pandemic is a genuine public health emergency, and if we can all make the small sacrifice to wear face masks, lives will be saved. Many times, our country has called upon its youth to fight for liberty and to sacrifice their lives for our freedom. You are not being asked to give up your life, but you are being asked to protect others.

I do not want to see a repeat of the massive closures and shutdowns that we had to deal with this past spring. Many have had to deal with economic hardship and job loss. If we can all get together and wear face masks in public places and practice proper social distancing, we might be able to avoid the new round of lockdowns and closures taking place in Europe right now.

Sincerely,

Christopher S. Hamilton

Professor of chemistry, pre-professional advisor