June 14, 2020: Scientists Agree: Masks and Social Distancing Work

 

6/14/20: No sign the spread of the coronavirus is abating. As of today, the U.S. has 2.1 million confirmed cases and nearly 116,000 dead. 

The Lancet only does medicine.

New cases since we last checked: 

June 9:            17,376           

June 10:          20,486

June 11:          21,744

June 12:          22,317

June 13:          25,468

June 14:          21,957 

This brings the total for the month to 298,089. That averages out to 21,292 per day, not much better than what we suffered in May.

 

We also know that the decision to wear a mask or go naked is a partisan issue. Trump fans prefer to go naked. Trump foes believe masks will help stop the spread. Now a review of 172 studies done in 16 countries and published in The Lancet, a respected medical journal, finds that…okay, we could have guessed…Trump’s anti-mask fans don’t get science. People who have been infected and don’t wear masks have a 1 in 6 chance (17%) of infecting someone else. For people with masks, the chance of spread falls to 1 in 33 (3%). Social distancing, keeping three to six feet apart, also reduces the chance of spread from 1 in 8 (13%) to 1 in 33 (3%). 

That’s the science. 

So, get a mask, wear it around others, and keep your distance wherever possible. This isn’t politics. We will all be better off if we slow the spread and get our country back to normal. 

See, for example, the advice from Yale Medicine.