Unlike Eileen Wright, I welcome the mask ordinance in Durango (letters, “
I applaud the city councilors for passing it, and I hope businesses enforce it. We all want the economy to get going again; we want to buy things in stores, eat in restaurants, get our hair cut and see Main Avenue vibrant with locals and tourists. We have few local cases of COVID-19, and we think we’re safe.
But visitors may bring it with them, and many local businesses employ people who commute from San Juan County, New Mexico, where there are many cases. The incubation period for COVID-19 is five to 14 days before symptoms begin, and it’s estimated that 35% of infected people never do exhibit symptoms – but both pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic people are contagious and can infect others.
This means that in order to reopen the economy safely, we need to take common-sense steps: staying six feet apart from others, washing our hands and wearing cloth masks so that if we are infected but don’t know it yet, we don’t infect others.
Yes, as the anti-maskers complain, masks don’t protect the wearer much. But they protect others by stopping droplets from infected people.
If being required to wear a shirt and shoes to shop is not infringing on your liberties, neither is wearing a face covering. Show you care about the health of others. Wear a mask.
Ilana SternDurango
