- April 16, 2024
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Dear Editor:
You readers and I can save a bunch of lives. Interested? Read on.
We have done a great job stopping the spread of COVID-19. Mayor Milissa Holland realized the seriousness of this threat sooner than our state officials. She is leading a dream team, including Matthew Morton, Jerry Forte, Robert Snyder and Jonathan Lord, that is helping us save lives and limit devastating illness.
Our local COVID case rate is 30% lower, and our hospitalization and death rates per capita are HALF of what the rest of Florida has suffered.
So is it time to start opening up? I believe so. Should we ease up on the virus? No. That could lead to a second wave of avoidable death and disease for ourselves and our neighbors.
But we now know we have a game-changing option: Let’s open up AND double down. With masks. Yes, masks.
Wait! The surgeon general and the CDC said we should not wear them! Well, this is a new disease, and we have all been learning as we go. And protective gear shortages unfortunately influenced early recommendations.
But it is now clear that face coverings help protect you from getting COVID, and they almost completely eliminate the possibility of you spreading the disease.
Think about that: You could be in a COVID ward of a hospital and if everyone there is wearing a face covering (doesn’t even need to be an N-95), you won’t get the disease!
In medicine, we look for the risk/benefit ratio of a new treatment. Let’s do that for face coverings. The risk is the cost (minimal) and side effects (no medical side effects). The benefit could be huge. It is predicted that if even just 60% of us cover our faces when we are in contact with others, we will slow and then stop the spread of COVID-19.
This is every doctor’s dream come true: an inexpensive way to prevent disease and save lives with no significant down-side.
So, why don’t we all wear masks? First, we Americans are rightfully very protective of our freedom. But nobody is going to make us wear masks. This is our choice. I suggest we simply decide to do this. Decide to do this for yourself and for your neighbors.
Second, we think of masks as a sign of weakness. People might think we’re afraid of getting sick or that we are actively sick. Also, we associate masks with criminals hiding their identity (I grew up watching bad guys wearing masks robbing stagecoaches, you younger readers grew up with Darth Vader, Jason and Hannibal Lecter). We can change that view. Wearing a mask in public can now be a sign that you are a hero. You are like the nurses and doctors on the front line. You are wearing a mask not only to stay safe but to protect your friends and neighbors.
And you will protect the grocery store clerk, the server at your re-opening restaurant, the policeman or EMT who comes to help you. You will protect the immunocompromised child next door, your grandmother and the healthy 35-year-old friend who might be unlucky enough to get COVID and suffer a stroke.
Wearing a mask is a little uncomfortable, but how comfortable are we with being home for two months, seeing businesses destroyed, and knowing that thousands of Americans continue to die?
To win back our way of life, we will need to test, track cases, isolate sick people, and quarantine those exposed. Our local “dream team” is on it. We will have to continue to wash our hands and maintain social distancing.
But for us citizens, far and away the most important thing we can do is wear face coverings. It’s less important to wear them outside. You don’t need them when at home or in the car with your family. But we should ALWAYS wear them when we are inside public places.
Here is what I suggest. We all have a face covering that we can wear comfortably around our neck that can be positioned under our chin. (Our creative sewing friends will have this figured out in no time flat.) Then, every time we are going to be near someone or indoors with someone, we pull it up over our nose and mouth. It will show the world we are heroes. It will show the world we will win. It will save lives. Let’s do this thing!
Stephen J. Playe, M.D.
Palm Coast
Dear Editor:
Thanks so much for informing us of Corinne Hermle’s candidacy for our Flagler County Commission. Her credentials and experience as a scientist will serve our community well.
You wouldn’t be expected to note this, but our current commission is made up of five men, with an average age well over 50 years old.
The addition of a woman, especially in this year when we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote, is quite significant.
We all agree that our County Commission should reflect the diversity of our community!
Merrill Shapiro
Palm Coast
