Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 2, 2020

Dr. Daniel Horn, Opinion contributor Published 7:00 a.m. ET July 28, 2020 | Updated 4:42 p.m. ET July 28, 2020

In a time of lockdowns and social distancing, who and what do you miss? What if I told you how to get it back? The catch: We all need to opt in.

Every night as I put my 4-year-old to bed he tells me that his one wish during coronavirus would be to visit grandma Helene on the beach in Florida. We havent seen her since January and had planned to have her drive 18 hours (safer than flying) to visit us in Massachusetts this week.But with infection rates rising drastically in Florida and a greater than one-week delay to receive test results, there was no way the trip would be safe for our family. We decided to cancel.

I miss my community. We havent been to synagogue since March and I have lost the sanctity and serenity of communal worship.I am advising my synagogue on reopening and I cant in good conscience advise them to resume indoor services while infection rates soar across the country.

Who do you miss? What do you miss? Is it a best friend, church, your dad, your workplace?

Close your eyes, take a few breaths and count the number of people you love that arent in your life because of COVID-19. Keep your eyes closed, take a few more breaths and remember what community was like for you before COVID-19.Hold on to that. Dont you want it back? I do, and I know how to get there, but I need all of you.

You need to choose to wear a mask.

I am a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School.I have access to the best medical minds, diagnostic testsand medical equipment in the country. My hospital has led many scientific advances during COVID-19. However, they all pale in comparison to my hospitals decision to lead the way on universal masking.

People wearing masks on July 18, 2020, in Charleston, South Carolina.(Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Beginning on March 24, 2020, our entire hospital system began to place a clean, surgical mask on all health care workers and patients whether we thought they had coronavirus or not. The decision took vision, braveryand a major resource commitment at a time when we didnt know with certainty that we would have enough masks to keep up with the demand. The decision was made before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance came out that universal masking was important. At that time, no other health system I knew of was masking everyone whowalked through its doors. The policy made us all feel safer, but did it work?

Researchers from my hospital system just published a study in JAMA, one of medicines most prestigious journals, that convincingly demonstrates the impact of masking.

Put simply, before universal masking, the rate of health care worker infections went up and after universal masking the rate of health care worker infections went down. Also of note, before masking, the rate was increasing exponentially, doubling every three and a half days from 0% to 21.3% over a 24-day period. After universal masking, infection rates began a decline linearly, by an average of 0.5% per day over a 19-day period. The scale of the rate of infections changed from exponential up to linear down. Dont we want to change the scale of this disaster?

It is true that Massachusetts was implementing many other interventions at the time, including a statewide stay-at-home order. However, it was only after universal masking that the infection rate began to decline among our health care workers. While we socially distance whenever possible,hospital staff are often working elbow to elbow with one another as we care for patients. And still, our infection rate declined. Posters all over the hospital proclaim, we can work together if we mask together, and we believe it.

Universal masking is our greatest weapon in the fight against coronavirus today. Dr. Robert Redfield, who heads the CDC and was appointed by the Trump administration, responded to the recent study from my hospital system by saying that If we really embrace masking, if we really embrace the social distancing and hand washing, we could bring this outbreak to its knees. He estimated that the pandemic could be brought under control in four to eight weeks if we begin universally masking today.

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Masking works. It brings case rates down. Once case rates are down, people can carefully go about their work and lives and kids can go back to school. Our economy will be in much better shape if we do it. Goldman Sachs estimates that masking would save $1 trillion dollars because masking will prevent repeat lockdowns. Numerous analyses have demonstrated that countries that adopted universal masking have done better than countries that did not.

Despite this incredibly strong evidence, there is no national mask mandate forthcoming, in the name of preserving personal freedom.But none of us are free if we cant work or play, if our kids cant go to school, and if we cant spend time with people we love. We are more restricted today as a nation than we ever have been. If you somehow dont yet feel restricted, I promise you soon will.

Universal masking is how we can all feel less restricted, not more.

It is clear that none of the arguments I have made are enough to make universal masking happen. When your governor or your president are sending profoundly mixed messages, science just isnt enough.

Politics and commitment to freedom can cloud the science. But, in the absence of a national strategy on testing and contact-tracing (which we desperately need!), we literally have nothing else to offer aside from lockdowns or closure of bars and other indoor hot spots to change the trajectory of this pandemic.

While universal masking wont get us back to the way things were anytime soon, you would at least be able to see your inner circle again and give school reopening a chance to stick.

Maybe the reward of seeing your family is enough.Maybe going back to work safely is enough.

Teacher: I was a reluctant Trump voter. Coronavirus is the end of my Republican identity.

If everyone avoiding masks were my patients, here would be my prescription: For the next eight weeks, make an individual commitment to mask whenever you are within six feet of another person. If you are a Millennial in perfect health, mask. If you are a construction worker, mask. If you are eating and drinking, make sure you are six feet apart from anyone else. Explain your decision to the people around you.Your decision will have a domino effect, and you will save lives.

Give me eight weeks in a mask, and lets see what happens.Doctors order.

Dr. Daniel Horn is a primary care physician and director of population health for the Division of General Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a public voices fellow with The OpEd Project. Follow him on Twitter:@danielmhorn

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The disease: Raging COVID-19 pandemic. My prescription: One mask. Eight weeks. That's it. - USA TODAY

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