Face coverings should be mandated on a national scale

Mia Cho

Managing Editor

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries around the world began mandating for face coverings in public places. Many states in the United States have followed suit, causing many people to protest against these statewide orders. Face coverings are an integral part of efforts to reduce COVID-19 cases and related deaths, and they should be mandated nationwide in public places.

In the United States many states, counties and cities, have mandated masks, while others have not. There hasn’t been a universal policy on face coverings in the United States, communicating inconsistent regulations across the countries. This lack of consistency in regulations communicates to Americans that wearing face masks is not an urgent matter. Skeptics of face coverings have continued to fill the American public with misinformation on the importance of masks. 

 Similarly, many US politicians have urged Americans to wear a face covering in public, while others have openly mocked those who wear masks. Face coverings have been a topic of political controversy since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, face coverings are a matter of public health and safety, and should not involve political standing or party. Because they have become a politicized issue, masks have been viewed as a partisan matter, which has caused many people to avoid wearing masks. This is dangerous because masks are necessary in decelerating the spread of COVID-19. 

Although many legislative officials, including President Trump, have communicated to the American public that they believe face coverings are unnecessary, infectious disease experts have explained the importance of wearing a mask in reducing COVID-19 cases. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, face coverings are a method of source control, meaning face masks act as a barrier to prevent respiratory droplets from when someone sneezes, coughs, or raises their voice into the air, which can help prevent community based transmission. Ultimately, according to research executed by the University of San Francisco, if 80% of people in the United States wore masks in public places, it would help slow the spread of COVID-19 more than a strict lockdown would.

The United States is leading with the most amount of COVID-19 cases in the world, and a universal mandate is necessary in order to help slow the spread of COVID-19.