Submitted by Dr George Harpur
Truly, there is nothing to be said about mask wearing today that hasn’t been said hundreds of times before, unfortunately in a series of conflicting and confusing statements when what was needed was a simple directive. If you don’t believe that just look at Taiwan; 23 million people, next door to China with direct flights from Wuhan and deaths in the single digits – seven, I believe, in total. Mask wearing was not the only thing Taiwan did but it was one of the simple actions that could’ve been taken anywhere. They didn’t call for R95 or surgical masks, just a face covering.
Given the recent concerns expressed so volubly regarding the arrival of visitors from the urban centres to the south, it was fascinating to note that the majority of people wearing masks around the Lion’s Head and Tobermory area that I encountered on the weekend were these visitors from the South, while local residents were, with rare exception, doing nothing significant to protect themselves from the feared exposure to these visitors from the South.
It seems that people still don’t grasp the very basic, simple principles involved (see https://couriernewsroom.com/2020/05/01/we-asked-health-experts-about-the-wear-your-mask-the-urine-test-meme/). When you’re in situations where you cannot be certain of maintaining adequate social distancing, a mask is the simplest and most effective defence against covid-19, use it please.
