President Trump together with the mayors of New York and Los Angeles are now advising all to wear face masks in public.
On March 29 The Daily Herald was kind enough to publish my appeal to government to mandate the wearing of face masks in public. I asked that the authorities investigate the merits of this issue but still no word or action, as everyone seems to be busy worrying.
The evidence is becoming more apparent that this is the right thing to do, as leaders and institutions now seem to be reversing their previous position on the issue. Every day, every week that goes by the situation on the island will worsen exponentially.
The big problem remains that we don’t know who is carrying the disease, the symptoms show up after it’s already spread. But if everyone is made to wear a mask in public, no matter who gets the disease, they can’t infect the general population.
Once this epidemic takes hold people will automatically social-distance and wear masks. It’s just a pity that so many will suffer or even die in the interim.
You can make a pretty effective mask by using an old T-shirt, or even using a scarf.
Since it is in the restriction of transmission that this strategy really works, we could look at it as, “I wear my mask to protect you and you wear yours to protect me,”
We pay a lot of money for our MPs and Ministers. Should it become clear in retrospect that this action should have been taken but was never even considered it will speak volumes as to who was worth their salt.
Mike Vieira
