The Fights Over Public Health Recommendations Told Our Enemies How to Strike Us
Can you live a few days with a mild inconvenience if it means keeping everyone safe?
With the recent news that an unqualified judge struck down the requirement for masks on public transportation (airplanes, trains, buses, etc.), videos started surfacing of people celebrating the end of the masking requirement. Don’t get me wrong, please. I want to celebrate the end of the need for masks. However, as an epidemiologist with advanced understanding of infectious disease dynamics, I cannot celebrate yet.
Just last week, Philadelphia ordered masks to be worn indoors in public spaces where crowding is possible. This created confusion about the airport, but the rules are simple if you pay attention to what you’re doing. You wear your mask in the terminal, and then it is up to the airline if they want you to mask on the plane. But, as with almost everything in this country, the decision of the unqualified judge has turned people against one another and collectively distracted us from things that matter.
For example, more and more flocks of birds are testing positive for an avian influenza strain, killing them. Bald eagles and chickens used for food are being affected. If this keeps up into the next flu season, the…
