CDC: We Can Tame the Pandemic in a Couple of Months—with Uniform Buy-In on Masks

Being “forced” to where a mask in a retail establishment has become a volatile subject lately, with the nightly news and social media recounting tales of sometimes violent confrontations between proprietors who insist on masks and prospective patrons who feel such a mandate infringes on their individual rights. Lost in this are the facts that such rules 1) are well within the rights of shopkeepers to establish and 2) are intended to save lives. Robert Redfield, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasized the latter point fairly dramatically in an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association when he said “I think if we can get everyone to wear masks right now, we can bring this under control within 4, 6, 8 weeks.” He also noted that wearing a mask in public should be viewed as a public health consideration, not a political stance. Bear this in mind when discussing patients’ choices regarding the pandemic.