Balmer Sun,
Baltimore County declares state of emergency, reinstates indoor mask mandate
amid rising COVID cases
Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. on Monday declared a
COVID-related state of emergency and is requiring face coverings at indoor
public spaces beginning Wednesday morning.
The mandate will go into
effect at 9 a.m. on Dec. 29 and applies to all individuals 5 and older
patronizing restaurants and food businesses, retail stores, houses of worship
or any establishment that serves the public. The County Council will have to
approve extending the order until Jan. 31; they’re scheduled to take up a vote
at their Jan. 3 meeting, according to a news release.
The order
comes as
cases across Maryland surge
and the omicron variant spreads. The state health department recorded more
than 25,000 new COVID-19 cases between Thursday and Sunday and the state’s
seven-day average positivity rate bounded past 15%.
Frankly, our county doesn't look a whole lot better. Ready or not, Omicron is
coming. And this helpful tip via Capt. Ed at Haut Hair,
CNN expert: Cloth masks are useless "face decorations" at this point
This has made the social-media rounds since yesterday, but it’s been true for
the past year or more anyway. “There’s no place for them in light of Omicron,”
Dr. Leana Wen told CNN’s Victor Blackwell, but there wasn’t any place for them in light of Delta, Beta, or any other
variant either. Cloth masks only provide minimal mitigation against viral
transmission of any kind, and their only virtue is their existence in an
environment where no other options exist.
That was the mitigation
context in April 2020. It hasn’t been the case for well over a year (via
Townhall):
I would say that if you choose to go, make sure that you’re vaccinated and
boosted, make sure that you’re wearing a mask, even though it’s outdoors, if
there are lots of people packed around you, wearing a three-ply surgical
mask. Don’t wear a cloth mask. Cloth masks are little more than facial
decorations. There’s no place for them in light of Omicron. And so wear a
high-quality mask, at least a three-ply surgical mask. And if you’re going
to be visiting elderly relatives or immunocompromised people after, wait
three days, get tested, and then see those vulnerable.
The
cloth-mask phenomenon has served no other significant practical purpose than
virtue signaling. When we had a massive shortage of PPE, it may have served
as the only option for mitigation, but cloth masks were only slightly better
than nothing — and only then when handled properly, ie, constant
disinfecting, washing, etc. We haven’t had “nothing” for personal PPE since
late spring of 2020, however, and that’s when cloth masking should have been
discarded.
Surgical masks such as those recommended by Wen offer
more significant mitigation, but they don’t entirely prevent viral
transmission either for a variety of reasons. For one thing, they don’t fit
airtight around the mouth and nose, and moisture eventually eliminates the
electrostatic functions between the layers. (Plus, touching the outside
provides a route for viral transfer.) The best option for masking are N95
masks, manufactured to a standard that does prevent viral transmission, but
those are difficult to tolerate for long periods of time because they work
so well.
Even those are probably not “full protection” against
Omicron, either, but that’s missing the point a bit. It’s about levels of
mitigation, not guaranteed prevention. Wen’s advice is rational, although
mask-wearing outdoors is almost entirely pointless. Until someone
demonstrates any evidence of outdoor transmission of COVID-19 outside of
sustained physical contact — we have no reliable evidence of such — there’s
no need to mitigate against it. In fact, it’s a waste of surgical masks.
Cloth masks outside are even more pointless than they are indoors.
So
why does the White House continue to model their use? That’s a question
worth asking. It appears to only function as a way for Joe Biden to wear the
presidential seal as a brand.
Or, as looks likely, we could all get Omicron.
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