Louise O'Neill: Why we should all be wearing face masks
This week, I read Katherine Wu’s piece in the New York Times about a report published by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
They studied a hair salon in Missouri, in which two stylists fell ill with the Coronavirus in mid-May but continued to work with clients for the week after they first developed symptoms. Between the two of them, they worked with nearly 140 clients during that week – and they were in close contact with them for at least 15-45 minutes, carrying out haircuts, perms, facial hair trimmings - and not one of those people contracted the virus.
The reason? The team behind the study believe that the fact both the stylists and the clients in the salon wore masks covering their noses and mouths played a large part.
Juan B. Gutiérrez, a biologist at the University of Texas at San Antonio told the NYT.
Another report published in The Lancet this week, which analysed data from 172 studies in 16 countries, found that wearing a face mask can reduce your chances of catching Covid-19 to just 3%.
They’re not a silver bullet – there have been concerns that facemasks can give people an overly confident sense of security, resulting in less care with social distancing and hand hygiene – but the evidence is clear.
Facemasks are going to be a vital part of preventing, or at least slowing down, a second wave of the virus, a strategy that has been made clear by the new legislation enforcing face mask regulations on public transport in this country.
It’s easy to feel confused about all of this, particularly given the World Health Organisation’s initial recommendation that masks were unnecessary unless you were sick or caring for someone with Covid19.
This was to prevent hoarding of PPE and to ward off a shortage of supplies for healthcare workers. The advice was also given back in March when very little was known about the virus and how it spread.
The most current recommendations advise that we should be wearing face coverings when we leave the house, but especially in areas where we will be in close contact with others such as supermarkets, public transport etc.
Despite this, there is still a noticeable reluctance to don a mask. In the US, a country where everything seems to become a partisan issue right now, facemasks have become a political dispute, with people taking to the streets to protest what they see as an affront on their civil liberties.
Research published by the Middlesex University and the Mathematical Science Research Institute in Berkeley found that men are less likely to wear face coverings than women, due to masks being seen as “a sign of weakness”, and emasculating.
(To that I say: if your masculinity is so fragile that wearing a mask threatens it, you have bigger problems to deal with, my friend.)
I’ve seen paranoid murmurings in the darkest corners of Facebook and Twitter suggesting this is all an elaborate hoax, and mandatory facemasks are a ploy to herd us into a police state. Now, I enjoy a good conspiracy theory as much as the next tinfoil-hat wearing child of the internet but I prefer mine to err on the side of plausible, at the very least.
I’ve heard complaints that it’s difficult to breathe in a mask; well, it’ll be a lot more difficult to do so if you contract Covid19.
However, I will concede that they take some getting used to. In the beginning, I found the mask made me feel anxious, and I still haven’t figured out a way to ensure my glasses don’t fog up when I’m wearing mine. (Please let me know if you have any helpful suggestions!)
I’m not perfect; I have occasionally left my mask at home so I have started stashing a clean, spare one in my handbag and another in the car in case I forget. I’ve tried to make wearing my mask a positive thing; it covers hormonal breakouts around the mouth and chin, a lifesaver for me, and I’ve bought some gorgeous masks from Irish designers like Natalie B Coleman and Helen Steele.
If you’re feeling charitable, you can get a mask on wemakegood.ie, and the company will donate a second mask to a person living in Direct Provision. And, as I saw on Instagram during the week, your facemask can also act as a useful disguise.
Put it on, lash on a pair of sunglasses, and you’re practically a spy. Embrace the anonymity! Avoid awkward conversations with exes and childhood bullies when you bump into them on the street! This is a gamechanger.
Ultimately, the thing to remember is that wearing a mask isn’t necessarily about you or your health. As with all of the measures we’ve taken over the last few months, it’s about protecting the most vulnerable in our society.
Blindboy said on Twitter recently that, “You know what breaks my heart? The majority of people I see wearing facemasks in shops are elderly, at risk people. Trying their best to stay sage. And if I’m not wearing my mask too then they’re not protected. Their mask & their effort is for nothing.”
I don’t want their effort to be for nothing. Be sound. Be safe. Wear your mask.
Floodlines. Described as the best audio documentary of 2020, this superb podcast about Hurricane Katrina is genuinely illuminating.
Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis. I read this beautiful, romantic novel in one sitting and my heart felt like it was too big for my chest for the entire time.
