Harvard doctor says the US needs a mandatory mask order across ALL states to combat rise of coronavirus and prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed
- Dr Ashish Jha, from Harvard, says the US needs to implement a nationwide mask order to combat the coronavirus
- Studies have found that states with mask mandates slowed the growth rate and had lower deaths
- Jha said that wearing mask will not only curb rising infections but will also prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed
- There is no mandatory mask order with the federal government leaving the decision up to the governors
A Harvard professor says the US needs a mandatory order to wear a mask in all 50 states to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Dr Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, discussed the lack of a nationwide mandate on NBC’s TODAY.
He says that wearing masks will not only be a way to get the infection rate to slow down, but will also prevent hospitals and ICUs from becoming overwhelmed.
Dr Ashish Jha (pictured), from Harvard, says the US needs to implement a nationwide mask order to combat the coronavirus
Studies have found that states with mask mandates slowed the growth rate and had lower deaths. Pictured: People wear face masks as they use the beach boardwalk in Huntington Beach, California, July 1
Jha said that wearing mask will not only curb rising infections but will also prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. Pictured: Young people without protective masks walk along the Pacific Beach boardwalk in San Diego, California, July 3
Jha says a mandate on wearing masks would help prevent governors from issuing lockdowns or stay-at-home orders again.
‘Every state should have a mandatory mask order…[Someone] talked about freedom and how everyone should get to choose on their own,’ he said.
‘I don’t get to walk into a retail store and light up a cigarette out of my desire to smoke indoors. I shouldn’t be able to walk into a retail store not wearing a mask.’
Currently, there is no national policy requiring Americans to wear masks covering in public, with the decisions being left up to governors in some states.
This is despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending in April that the public do so.
A University of Iowa study looked at the COVID-19 growth rate before and after mask mandates in 15 states and the District of Columbia.
Those with orders had slowdowns with rates decreasing 0.9 percentage points in comparison with five days before the mandate.
Another study found that out of 198 countries, those with government policies that encouraged wearing masks had lower death rate
A number of states’ governors have required residents to wear masks including in New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and now even Texas
But some, such as the governors of Florida and South Carolina, have been resistant and have let the mayors of individual counties decide.
Cases in these states are on the rise, however, and Jha is worried that hospitals could get overwhelmed.
‘In terms of the hospitals, a lot of hospitals are already starting to bump up against their capacity,’ he said.
‘At some point, we are going to run out of all of our capacity, our ability to take care of people and so we’ve got to sort of shut this off and we’ve go to find ways of breaking these increases or we’re going to get a lot of trouble sooner than they think.’
Jha also recommended that testing and contact tracing needs to be ramped up and certain establishments should be closed until further notice.
‘Things like indoor bars, nightclubs, I think we just can’t afford any of those right now, not when we’re having these kinds of outbreaks,’ he said.
