President Trump wore a mask for the first time in public yesterday while visiting recovering military personnel at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. This was the right call and one that should have been made much sooner.
One of the stranger and more frustrating developments over the past few months has been the hostility toward face coverings. Many businesses now require them, and countless videos have shown altercations between employees trying to enforce the policy and angry patrons refusing to listen. It’s a difficult situation because no one likes wearing a mask, and information about whether face coverings are really necessary has been so conflicting that many simply don’t understand the point of it.
By donning a mask in public, Trump waded into the debate and made it clear that masks are not only acceptable but necessary. And he’s right: Several studies over the past few months have confirmed that face coverings prevent asymptomatic coronavirus carriers from spreading the virus, thereby protecting others who don’t have it.
One such study from Cambridge and Greenwich universities found that if only half of the population were to wear face masks while in public, the coronavirus reproduction rate would decrease significantly. Indeed, the scientists estimated that COVID-19 carriers would infect fewer than one person if masks are widely worn. This kind of prevention would flatten the curve and prevent another shutdown.
Which is exactly what we need right now since several states are experiencing a surge of COVID-19 cases. Already, Texas has reintroduced certain restrictions, and a few other states are close to following suit. Masks won’t prevent the spread of COVID-19 entirely, but they will certainly help. And at this point, we need all the help we can get.
So, it’s good the president is setting the example and encouraging other Americans to follow his lead. I only wish he had done this sooner. He had the chance to wear a mask publicly a couple of months ago when he toured a Ford plant in Michigan, but he chose not to because he didn’t want the media to capture the image.
Now, he has the chance to go a step further and make masks the unofficial White House policy. Hopefully his visit to Walter Reed was a step toward doing just that.
