Xinhong Heat Press

Should you wear a mask? Does it help protect you? Does it protect others? These are just a few of the questions people have about masks, causing confusion and conflicting information everywhere. However, if you want the spread of COVID-19 to end, wearing a face mask could be a part of the answer. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t wear a mask to protect yourself, but to protect those around you. This is what will help halt the disease and return life to our new normal.

Not sure if you should wear a mask? Check out our top five reasons to consider it.

You Protect Those Around You
Like we said above, you wearing a mask protects those around you and vice versa. If everyone wears a mask, the spread of the virus can decrease faster, which allows areas of the country to resume to their ‘new normal’ faster. This isn’t about protecting yourself but protecting those around you.

Droplets Evaporate Rather than Spread
COVID-19 spreads from mouth droplets. These droplets occur from coughing, sneezing, and even talking. If everyone wears a mask, you may prevent the risk of spreading infected droplets by as much as 99 percent. With fewer droplets spreading, the risk of catching COVID-19 greatly decreases, and at the very least, the severity of the virus spreading may be smaller.

COVID-19 Carriers can Remain Symptomless
Here’s the scary thing. According to the CDC, you could have COVID-19 but not show any symptoms. If you don’t wear a mask, you could unknowingly infect everyone you come into contact with that day. In addition, the incubation period lasts 2 – 14 days. This means the time from exposure to exhibiting symptoms could be as long as 2 weeks, but in that time, you could be contagious. Wearing a mask prevents you from spreading it further.

You Contribute to the Overall Good of the Economy
We all want to see our economy open up again and get back to its old levels. Without a serious decline in the COVID-19 rates, though, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. By you wearing a mask, you help slow down the risk. If millions of others cooperate as you do, the numbers will start declining because there’s less illness spreading throughout the world. This not only saves lives, but helps more areas of the economy open up, helping people get back to work and back to their livelihood.

It Makes you Powerful
How often have you felt helpless in the face of the pandemic? You know there are so many people suffering, yet there’s nothing you can do. Now there is – wear your mask. Choosing to be proactive saves lives. We can’t think of anything more liberating than saving lives, can you?

Wearing a face mask probably isn’t something you ever envisioned yourself doing unless you had a midlife crisis and went back to school to practice medicine, but it’s our new reality. The more people that jump on board and protect those around them, the sooner we may see an end or at least a decline to this pandemic.