At the moment, everything is up in the air. Including COVID-19 is still out there, contrary to ‘some beliefs’. COVID is something that we are up against and trying to fight, which is still affecting our daily lives.
Personally, I cannot go back to school because coronavirus contraction cases are rising in the United States, particularly in New York. Teachers are going on strike because they are unprepared, people are giving up on wearing masks due to sheer ideological politicization, and some are even pretending that the virus is fake and does not exist. I would like to make my perspective clear: The virus is still out there and has the potential to come back as strong as we experienced during the period of March-June.
Evidence indicates it may be mutating and hence, there is no room for ignorance. We could have a second wave that could put us in nationwide lockdown again. Which is why it is crucial to be wearing masks anywhere where you are in public. In fact, Monica Gandhi, M.D., M.P.H., and George W. Rutherford, M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, wrote that “Masks can filter out some virus-containing droplets, masking might reduce the inoculum that an exposed person inhales.'" Inoculum is defined as the amount of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) that happens to get into your body. From this, we can see that wearing masks can protect people to a substantial extent. Masks help protect you from that intake that could potentially have specs of the virus. An ordinary facemask could have the effect that a vaccine could, making it less likely for you to contract the coronavirus.
This is explained through "variolation". It was used to also try to immunize people against smallpox. (You can learn more about that in this Ted-Ed video: https://youtu.be/yqUFy-t4MlQ) .
The same concept can be applied to face coverings. They could help with variolation since the "face mask would allow a smaller dose of the virus to get up your nose or into your mouth. The smaller dose may not be enough virus to give you a more severe infection. Surviving a milder infection could then mean immunity to the Covid-19 coronavirus." This theory is very intriguing in my opinion, but we still have people that do not prefer to wear face coverings, with no reason behind it, other than political propaganda. If you can save your life and the life of others by wearing a face mask, by all means, you should take that opportunity. What’s good, is that a number of public places have made wearing masks mandatory as lockdowns have been lifted. 40+ governments have made it mandatory to wear masks by law nationwide and 100+ countries now have public provisions related to wearing masks.
Some people try to change your mind. “Masks can cause carbon dioxide to build-up in your body, decrease your immunity" are grave rumours and must be debunked. There is not enough evidence that wearing a face mask can get you immune like a vaccine, but it can and will prevent you from getting the harmful intake of the virus that you would be exposed to with no mask. Face coverings are a good way to help prevent the spread of the virus and keep it under control, before and also after and if a vaccine gets created. Hence, I urge you not to give into popular propaganda and Stay safe, stay healthy, and wear a mask!
Written By Daniella Agayeva
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