The ‘why’ of wearing masks and limiting crowd sizes

As our counties begin to open again and we have access to more options and opportunities, it is exciting to start participating and doing some normal things again.

However, participating in a cautious way is important. It’s good to remember that COVID-19 is a new virus that scientists have not seen before, it is highly contagious, without a cure and is still very much in our communities.

We have all heard this statement, “wear your mask and stay back 6 feet” in every article and from every television report, but WHY? Here is the WHY behind masks and social distancing.

COVID-19 is transmitted mostly through person-to-person contact from respiratory droplets that are created as an infected person coughs, sneezes or even while they are just talking. Each of these droplets can potentially carry copies of the virus.

When an infected individual doesn’t use any sort of barrier, like a mask, it is possible for their droplets to come into contact with mucous membranes in the noses and mouths of other people near them.

Some of these droplets are so small that they behave like an aerosol that suspends in the air and can travel with air currents. These very small droplets can even be inhaled deep into the lungs and lead to infection. A New England Journal of Medicine study found that these aerosols can remain airborne and viable for up to three hours.

Then there is the dosage. The amount of virus necessary to make someone sick is referred to as the infectious dose, which is the number of particles of the virus a person has to be exposed to in order to cause illness. It is still unknown exactly what the infectious dose is, but researchers suspect it’s as low as 1,000 copies of the virus.

As more things begin to open up in our communities, it is still important to be mindful of ways in which we can limit the potential dose of the virus that we may be exposed to. This is really accomplished by utilizing barriers such as masks or the plexiglas shields that you see in many stores, by continuing to maintain at least 6 feet of distance from other people, by reducing the duration of time that you spend in public around other people, by washing your hands and by cleaning surfaces.

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