Wear your mask, slow the spread

Masks are very controversial. Although they provide protection from COVID-19 and help to slow the transmission of the virus, many people still think that wearing a mask is pointless. Most argue that masks are a good thing while others might say that masks make breathing harder and it muffles your sound, making it harder for others to hear. Taking both opinions into account, I think that masks are a very essential part of flattening the curve, for they are possibly one of the biggest protectors from the virus, other than the vaccines.

In an article by Forbes about Florida parents protesting the mask mandates, parents claimed that “Masks do more harm than good,” which came as a shocking theory to experts. Some parents had even gone to the extreme of ripping a teacher’s mask off and getting mad at the educator for having a mask on during a conversation. This is just a little insensible and careless. 

Another big event regarding masks is the recent mandate that requires all people, regardless of their vaccination status, to wear a mask indoors again. This applies to facilities such as schools. As expected, this enraged a lot of anti-maskers and caused even more backlash against Gov. Gavin Newsom. Many parents were against the mandate and protested. 

As most people know by now, there is a new Delta variant that has been spreading around. However, most vaccinated individuals think that they have full protection from this virus, which in fact they don’t, for the vaccine is for the old variant. Although, vaccinated people are more likely to be less severely impacted by Covid, they are not invincible to Covid. This causes people to think that they don’t need a mask around other people, which has contributed to the most recent outbreaks. 

As I can understand why some may be upset by and not want to follow the mask mandates, I think it is very important that people still wear their masks for just a little bit longer. If people wear their masks for another few months and the curve flattens, then masks will probably not be required anymore and things would be more normal. I think that enduring the masks for just a little longer will provide more long term benefits, as things can get back to how they were a few years ago and the economy can recover sooner.