Bozeman must take action, mandate the use of masks
I was appalled to read in the Chronicle that the health department has decided to “study” the COVID situation for another month before taking meaningful action to keep our community safer from community spread of the virus. More study is not needed to know that when people do not wear masks, the virus spreads easily and quickly, even by asymptomatic carriers. When people
wear masks the risk of viral transmission is significantly reduced.
Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, many people will not wear masks unless they are required to. Masks need to be mandated. And there need to be unpleasant consequences, like fines,
if people do not wear them in stores, businesses, and even on Main Street, where maintaining physical distance is frequently not possible.
C’mon, Bozeman leaders, take action before it is too late and we have to shut everything down again!
Connie Myslik-McFadden
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letter to the Editor 6/30/20
If you do not want to endanger others, wear mask
As a registered nurse in Montana, it saddens me when I go into public places and see people not wearing masks. I know my colleagues and I may be putting our own health at risk to care for these
individuals should they become ill. It’s just what nurses do. I also know we never change opinions by shaming people, so I wonder, what will it take for people to realize the virus does not discriminate by political affiliation?
Freedom comes with responsibilities, which include caring about our fellow companions on our life’s journey. Since the virus can be transmitted to another person for up to two weeks before
symptoms appear, and none of us would endanger others knowingly, how do we reconcile the two? The only way to bring down the COVID-19 numbers is by stopping transmission. Certainly,
the inconvenience of wearing a mask is worth knowing we are not harming others and perhaps helping ourselves.
Please, from this registered nurse, please wear your mask in public spaces. It’s our only hope.
Rachel Rockafellow
Bozeman
MSU should require all students to wear a mask
The recent Wall St. Journal article, “How Exactly Do You Catch Covid-19?” compiled the latest medical and scientific findings. The principal medical fact is that surface contamination and fleeting
interpersonal encounters are less of a worry than close-up, person-to-person interaction for extended periods of time. Crowded encounters indoors present the greatest danger of infection because 90% of the COVID-19 spread happens by viral droplets shed into the air by an infected person and then inhaled by someone else nearby.
A separate study by the National Academy of Sciences says, “the airborne transmission route is highly virulent and dominant for the spread of COVID-19”. The NAS finds that social distancing
and other measures are insufficient by themselves to protect the public. These scientists assert that, “mandated face covering represents the determinant in shaping trends of the pandemic.” In other words, if face masks are not required and properly used in all close, indoor settings, no amount of hand washing and social distancing will stop viral spread.
With these irrefutable facts in mind I perused MSU’s lengthy fall 2020 Roadmap. I finished wondering why it is not mandatory for everyone on campus to wear face covering when indoors.
NAS says that face coverings are the most necessary deterrent, without which the virus is unstoppable, until someday when and if we are all immune. So please MSU leaders tell us, why is the one-and only method that works to stem the tide of infection not your enforced norm?
August 17 students returning from all over our infected world will receive hand sanitizer “Clean Cat” kits, which according to America’s best scientists and health professionals are nearly meaningless as a deterrent. May I suggest that MSU follows the science and also gives students free “COVID Cat” face masks and demand that they be worn indoors by everyone?
Jeff King
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letters to the Editor 7/2/20