Health officials: Masks slow spread but aren't foolproof on their own
Masked patrons stroll by the temporarily masked Granny’s Garden sculpture that greets visitors to the Eau Claire Downtown Farmers Market earlier this year in Phoenix Park. (Eric Lindquist, Leader-Telegram)
People gathering in groups continue to spur new cases of COVID-19 in the state, state and local health officials said recently.
While face masks will help slow the spread of the virus, wearing one without also keeping your distance from other people isn’t foolproof, officials warned. Different activities mean different degrees of risk.
“We in Eau Claire are seeing social gatherings are a big contributor to disease spread,” said Lieske Giese, director of the Eau Claire City-County Health Department.
Considered separately, social distancing is more effective than wearing a face mask to cut down on virus risk, health officials say.
But using both is preferable.
Keeping a six-foot distance from people who don’t live with you is “really the best strategy,” Giese said. “Having a mask on top of that will be additive, and support a slower spread of disease … indoors, particularly.”
Without a six-foot distance, face masks won’t prevent you from having to quarantine if you get too close to someone who gets COVID-19.
“If you’re six feet or closer to that individual, if you’re in close contact with them and wearing a mask, you’ll still need to quarantine,” Giese said.
About 20 percent of Wisconsin residents with new coronavirus cases in June and July said they went to a party, gathering or other meetup with people outside their home in the past two weeks. In May, that percentage of new cases of the virus was just seven percent, according to the state Department of Health Services.
The state debuted a “decision tool,” hoping to help people consider how risky their activities are. The tool will walk people through a series of questions and offer more detailed information about each one: If you get sick, do you have access to health care? Can you wear a mask safely? At a gathering, will you have to share items or tools with other people? Does your community offer testing sites?
The safest scenario is staying home and wearing a mask when you leave the house, said Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers in a statement: “We hope this tool will assist people in making safe choices.”
The state’s decision tool can be found at www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/decision.htm.
This story was shared with members of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
