The Great Mask Debate

I wanted to write a quick message to let you know some of the things I have been seeing. We have been seeing a much larger number of positive Covid Cases amongst our patient population. Within the last 3 weeks we have seen more cases than in the entire 4 months combined. Many of these people have had mild-moderate symptoms ranging from no symptoms,  "allergy" type symptoms, to more moderate combination of symptoms including severe headaches, cough, and diarrhea/nausea.  We have also seen several severe cases resulting in hospitalizations.

We now know that Viral load has a lot to do with infectivity and how severe the symptoms are in an infected individual. Meaning- the more virus particles you are exposed to and possibly infected with the higher the possibility of severe symptoms. On the other hand, if you are exposed to a lower amount of viral particles, you have more likelihood of having more mild symptoms. Obviously, this is not taking into account other factors such as co-morbidities and current health status. But, this is actually a GREAT new development. It means that if there is a practice of universal masking, we can not only decrease the rate of infection but we can also decrease the severity of symptoms by decreasing the viral load people are exposed to. I do not expect 0 cases. We are far too beyond that at this point. I also understand that most of us need to continue to work and many are facing financial hardship at this time. The one thing that is consistently working to decrease the rate of infection with Covid-19 and reduce the severity of illness around the world is when the majority of people mask- the closer we can get to that the better. 
On that note, I ask that you educate others. Wearing a face mask is a simple act that can mitigate our risks and improve the economic situations that many find themselves in. 

I ask that you educate each other, not shame each other. Lead by example. 

Tania E. Velez, MD, DIMPH