The Tragedy of Not Masking
And some ideas on how to save the country with masking
To anyone who has been following the COVID-19 trend in this country, it should be obvious that we are entering into the worst moment of the pandemic thus far.
After peaking around 36,000 in mid April — most of the attributable to the outbreak in the New York metro area — the daily COVID-19 case number has soared through 30,000 this past week after reaching the nadir of below 20,000 earlier this month. At this rate, I have zero doubt in my mind that we will soon see 50,000+ new confirmed cases per day.
Before reading further, let that number sink in. FIFTY THOUSAND new cases of COVID-19 PER DAY.
Experts are bracing for a second peak (or a real first peak) in the fall.
Good news is that we have had 6 months of dealing with COVID-19 under our belt, and in some sense we are more prepared than we were in April.
First, we have a deeper and better understanding of how COVID-19 is spread: mostly through droplets between people in close proximity for an extended period time. And, many of these infections are acquired from people who are asymptomatic.
Second, our testing capacity has vastly increased since April. There are some reports of outbreaks being averted after finding asymptomatic cases in high-risk places such as a nursing home.
Third, many medical professionals have treated patients with COVID-19 and shared their experiences with one another, and there are some emerging treatment options, some of which have shown to reduce mortality (e.g. dexamethasone, though the publication still pending).
At the same time, we have several trends that are going against us, most of which are political in nature
First, it is abundantly clear that this administration has given up on controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and saving hundreds of thousands of American lives.
Second, most states have been and continuing to move towards opening up the economy precisely when we have more virus circulating amongst us than any other time. This will certainly lead to the pandemic to worsen exponentially.
Third, the economic fallout from the first shutdown across the country and the politicization of this pandemic will make it more difficult to institute the social distancing measures necessary to prevent this tidal wave of new infections and deaths.
Fourth, all of us have the “COVID-19 fatigue.” We are individually and collectively tired of staying at home and not being able to see our family and friends. Three months of social distancing have been taking a real toll on our mental health, and any measures to restrict social interactions further would lead to a tangible and negative impact on people’s well-being.
The tragedy of this situation doesn’t necessarily lie in the inevitability of the renewed peak of cases — and suffering, death, and grief which are sure to follow. It lies in the fact that we are failing to control this pandemic DESPITE the fact that effective ways of slowing this deadly pandemic exist.
We know up to half of infections are acquired from those without symptoms. We know that most infections happen when people congregate in close proximity to one another for an extended period of time. And, studies show that wearing a mask or a face covering can reduce the chance of infection by 85%.
The tragedy here would be if we continue to let masking be a political issue rather committing to it out of a duty as a good citizen and neighbor.
At the end of the day, progressives and conservatives both want to see the economy recover, jobs to come back, and avoid our loved ones from dying from COVID-19. And we want to all those things while still being able to hang out with our family and friends.
If we are willing to sacrifice our comfort a bit and wear a mask in public places, where social distancing is impossible, then I believe we could have our cake and eat it too. Examples of many Asian countries prove that this can happen.
Convincing every American to wear a mask has unfortunately proven to be challenging. One thing that is clear to me is that we cannot rely solely on governments.
One solution may be to leverage advertising and marketing platforms that already demand our attention on a minute by minute basis. Technology companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon have a way to reach us all day and everyday, and they have developed science around how to get people to buy certain products.
Could these companies commit to dedicating a small fraction of their advertisement platform and dollars to convince people to wear a mask?
Another solution may be a campaign to reframe masking. Currently in many parts of the country, any suggestion to require a mask in any setting is considered “an infarction of my God-given freedom.”
But what if we are able to turn masks into a patriotic symbol? Or something that is cool, hip, or lit? Could celebrities make viral videos on masks? A successful campaign will not only educate people about the importance of masking, but also make them feel good about wearing a mask.
Or perhaps we need to borrow from the political campaign playbook and knock on people’s doors (I mean this mostly figuratively) and talk to them individually to convince why our candidate (i.e. mask) is the one that they should go with.
We can’t give up on COVID-19. The stakes are simply too high, and lives of millions of people are on the line. How can we tap into the American ingenuity and creativity to make masking acceptable and even desirable, and ultimately universal?
