{"id":23935,"date":"2021-01-01T10:00:15","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mdcthereporter.com\/?p=23935"},"modified":"2021-04-29T16:47:24","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T20:47:24","slug":"its-time-to-take-face-masks-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/its-time-to-take-face-masks-seriously\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Time To Take Face Masks Seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you\u2019re a left-leaning liberal or a far-right conservative, there\u2019s one thing that we can all agree on\u2014we want this pandemic to be over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily, the answer is simple: wearing face masks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we could get everybody to wear a mask right now\u2026 in four to eight weeks we could bring this epidemic under control,\u201d said Robert Redfield, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in a statement released last June.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mask\"
LAURA GONZALEZ \/ THE REPORTER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seven months later, many are still refusing to wear face masks correctly or wear them at all. Maybe they don\u2019t understand the purpose of masks. Why should we use them?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been proven that wearing face masks reduces an individual\u2019s risk of contracting COVID-19<\/a><\/span> and helps curb the spread of the virus to others. They do so by protecting the user\u2019s nose and mouth from contact with foreign droplets that may contain germs, as well as making sure that others aren\u2019t exposed to the user\u2019s saliva and secretions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the politicization of face masks\u2014especially during the general election\u2014has caused a divide between the public. It has caused many to see them as a political symbol.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, the United States has more than 22 million cases of the coronavirus and almost 400,000 deaths. And the numbers are still rising.<\/span><\/p>\n

In times like these, we must remember that living in a society means taking responsibility for each other\u2019s lives. Wearing masks is necessary to protect our society and those who live in it. If you don\u2019t want to wear it for yourself then do it for the safety of others. Think about your immunocompromised neighbor or your high-risk grandmother.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the day, we all want to bring our country back to some form of normalcy. And the easiest way to do this is by following the guidelines set by public health organizations such as the CDC<\/span><\/span><\/a> and the World Health Organization to mitigate the spread of the virus.<\/span><\/p>\n

If these reasons aren\u2019t enough to convince the American public to wear face masks properly, it might be time to implement a mask mandate.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next time you go out, listen to the health experts rather than the political leaders who don\u2019t believe in science. Take care of yourself and your loved ones, and remember to wear your mask.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether you\u2019re a left-leaning liberal or a far-right conservative, there\u2019s one thing that we can all agree on\u2014we want this pandemic to be over.\u00a0 Luckily, the answer is simple: wearing face masks. \u201cIf we could get everybody to wear a mask right now\u2026 in four to eight weeks we could bring this epidemic under control,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":576,"featured_media":23936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[993,2020,2755],"class_list":{"0":"post-23935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-forum","8":"tag-covid-19","9":"tag-masks","10":"tag-mask-mandate"},"yoast_head":"\nIt\u2019s Time To Take Face Masks Seriously<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ashlie Rodriguez argues that the United States 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