COVID-19 and Masks
The Story Behind the Numbers
Even though COVID-19 is in the news every day, it
can seem pretty abstract, especially if all we see are charts and the
only people we know who have it had a mild case. Yet many of us, unfortunately,
know the suffering that this kind of disease imposes on the individual
and on their families.
I did lose a family member to a disease that acted like a slow-motion
version of COVID-19. In early 2010, my father was diagnosed with an
idiopathic (no known cause) lung disease that slowly stole his breath
day by day. Until, even with pure oxygen, he stopped breathing a few
months later. My mother was his rock, through the hospitalizations and
hospice, and fought for him with love and fierceness.
COVID-19 also steals the breath of its victims, but much more quickly.
The pain is real. The fear and isolation are real. Real people, and
their families, are behind the numbers.
This is the reason why I urge you to mask up and keep social distancing.
Treat others as if they are part of your family, as you would wish them
to do for you.
Masks Work
The challenge with COVID-19 is that people are often
most contageous when they are asymptomatic or presymptomatic. We can
spread the disease without even being aware that we have it. The main
way the virus that causes the disease (SARS-COV-2) spreads is through
exhaled droplets that are light enough to float in the air for a short
time, although spread as an aerosol is also now considered a factor.
I want to take what precautions I can to reduce the spread in the event
I become infected but asymptomatic and I encourage others to do so as
well. Those main precautions are avoiding large gatherings, social distancing,
and masking.
Wearing a cloth face covering—a mask—protects others by trapping some
of the exhaled droplets and reducing how far exhaled droplets travel.
We will be living with COVID-19 for a while, even with the recent announcement
of a potential vaccine. While masks are not perfect and we have evidence
here in Oklahoma that masks work to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Our goal is to help protect our neighbors by doing our best to reduce
spread. The
Centers for Disease Control called for Americans to begin wearing masks
on July 14th, 2020. They did so based on evidence showing that the
use of masks reduced the spread of COVID-19. This supplemented their
recommendation of social distancing.
Mask mandates are controversial, and I am neither advocating for or
against them here. Instead, I am using the data that we have in Oklahoma.
Communities that implemented mask mandates had reduced spread of COVID-19,
meaning fewer people becoming ill, fewer people taking off from work,
and more lives saved.
That data is from the
Weekly Epidemiology and Surveillance Report published by the Oklahoma
State Department of Health (OSDH). The table below is adapted from the
table on page 12 of the October 31 – November 5, 2020 Report.
| 7 Day Average Number of Cases by Date of Onset* with 7 day lag per 100,000 Population | Percent Change 8/1 to 11/1 | Percent Change 9/1 to 11/1 | ||||||
| 1-Aug | 1-Sep | 15-Sep | 1-Oct | 15-Oct | 1-Nov | |||
| Mask | 20.4 | 18.0 | 24.6 | 23.2 | 26.5 | 27.4 | 34% | 52% |
| No Mask | 14.5 | 17.3 | 20.3 | 28.1 | 29.1 | 30.3 | 109% | 75% |
| Mask vs No Mask Per capita difference | 40% | 4% | 21% | -18% | -9% | -10% | ||
*Status by Date of Onset as of 11/5/2020
This challenge with the data is that mask mandates were adopted at different
times, which means the August 1 date is not precise. The areas with
mask mandates were seeing growth in infections, which took time to work
through the system, which is why those areas showed greater growth in
infections early on, then decreased afterwards. OSDH has preliminary
data where they use number of days since a mask mandate compared to
other areas to show lower growth. They are still working on that data,
and I will add it when I have a final version.
Find out more about Oklahoma's efforts at the
Oklahoma State Department of Health Coronavirus page.
II know many people have strong feelings about masks but, masks protect
others, and we are seeing increasing evidence that they offer some protection
to the wearer as well. I routinely wear a mask when inside around others
in public places because I am pro-life at all stages. I wish helping
my father had been as easy.
