Please wear your MASK

Coronavirus, COVID-19, C19, 2019 Novel cononavirus, SARS-CoV-2, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

Whatever you choose to call this virus--disease, it is not going away quietly.

Yes, Massachusetts is an exemplary model of what doing it right looks like. However, if the rules are no longer adhered to and the country opens as fast as it has, we are still in the woods. Deep in the woods.

The number of cases throughout the United States is alarming and continuing to rise.

It seems the remarkably simple, yet for some reason, extraordinarily difficult rule to follow--merely wearing a MASK, is extremely effective.

• Put it on.
• Wear it when you are walking in public.
• Wear it if you are waiting to go into a restaurant.
• Wear it when you are gathered in a large group.
• If you are hot and no one is around pull it down.
• Do not forget to sanitize your hands after you touch the outside of your mask.
• When you get home, wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly.

I refuse to get political here, but I will say we need leadership to dictate these rules uniformly across state lines. If this does not get done our numbers in Massachusetts will undoubtedly go up again.

As a front-line worker this triggers a stress and anxiety that cannot be translated into words. A visual would perhaps suffice. I was driving with my son on Sunday and the sky opened and dumped almost 6 inches of rain in a short period of time. We were on the highway. My law-abiding seat belt was tight across my body for protection. We could not see. I did not know what was to the left or right. The water was rising on the road ahead of me. I thought, this is what the past several months have felt like. Blind unknown.

In 1983 very few Americans wore seat belts reliably. So, after lots of research on the matter, it was deemed necessary and important for everyones’ safety to strap up your belts. New York became the first state to pass a mandatory seat belt law in 1984, other states soon followed. America balked. Some cut them out of their cars. “they are uncomfortable, inconvenient, unnecessary” even going as far to say, “its safer to be thrown from the car rather, than being strapped in”. When surveyed in 2019, ~90% of Americans now strap up. https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/seat-belts. Ironically, those folks who are protesting masks, get into their cars and place their law-abiding seat belts across their bodies.

We need to move past the blindness. Put on your MASK. It is like windshield wipers in the rain and seat belts on your body. Clarity and safety

*I am a Medfield Board of Health Member, a bedside nurse at The Brigham and Woman's Hospital, and a Medfield "townie". This article is my opinion and not that of the BOH or the BWH*