No Matter What ‘Wave’ of the Pandemic We’re In, Tell Patients to Keep Wearing a Mask

Internationally, public health experts are in disagreement over the prospects of a second wave of widespread COVID-19 infection—though not because they think the pandemic is sputtering to a halt anytime soon. Some (such as Anthony Fauci, MD, head of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) say it’s premature to think about a second wave because we don’t know when the first wave will end. Others, such as a group of scientists at Cambridge and Greenwich Universities in Britain, say the rate of transmission have slowed sufficiently to declare wave I over—while also presuming another rash of infections will come down the road. What’s not in dispute, however, is that social distancing practices and wearing masks in public have helped, and will continue to help, slow the spread. Ongoing commitment to stringent personal space and hygiene habits, thus, should help lower risk for infection even as social distancing rules relax across the U.S. Urgent care providers should bear this in mind as they start to see more patients, both for purposes of setting policies in their own practice but also in answering questions patients may have about what’s “safe” to do in the near future.