The Live Free or Die state needs to have people think not just of their own life and liberty, but the liberty and lives of others when it comes to wearing face masks, according to a New Hampshire doctor.
“This is time for personal sacrifices to benefit the greater good,” said Dr. Michael Calderwood, associate chief quality officer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon.
Calderwood isn’t the only person suggesting wearing masks. University of New Hampshire Associate Professor of Health Management Semra Aytur said masks can drastically cut the spread of the disease and save lives.
“I always wear one,” Aytur said. Studies are showing that if widespread mask use were in place in all 50 states, tens of thousands of lives could be saved. Aytur said the more people wearing masks in the community, the less the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 can spread.
Calderwood explained that if 100 people spent time within six feet of an asymptomatic person with Covid-19, around 17 people would contract the illness. If everyone wore masks, only three people would become infected, he said.
A new study out of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington is forecasting that more than 33,000 lives could be saved by Oct. 1 if the whole country adopted wearing face masks.
The study forecasts that a total of 180,000 people in the U.S. will die from Covid-19 by Oct. 1, but those numbers drop to 146,047, with a range of 140,849 to 153,438, if at least 95% of people wear masks in public.
‘If enough people just wore the cloth face covering, along with hand-washing and physical distancing, it would really make a difference,’ says University of New Hampshire Associate Professor of Health Management Semra Aytur.
In New Hampshire, according to the study, 95% of people wearing a mask could mean between 126 and 1,200 lives saved. There have currently been more than 127,000 deaths and more than 2.5 million infections in the U.S.
Calderwood said wearing a face mask won’t necessarily protect the wearer from contracting the illness, but it will prevent a sick person from passing it along. Covid-19 has an incubation period of at least several days and up to 14 before an infected person begins to show any symptoms, so people need to be conscious that they could spread the virus before they know they are infected.
“We need to really be thinking about our neighbors,” Calderwood said.
Aytur said wearing a mask in public should be combined with social distancing of at least six feet, hand-washing and avoiding large gatherings in order to prevent a second wave of Covid-19 later this summer or in the fall.
“If enough people just wore the cloth face covering, along with hand-washing and physical distancing, it would really make a difference,” Aytur said. — DAMIEN FISHER/GRANITE STATE NEWS COLLABORATIVE
