An internal medicine doctor in Destin, Florida is urging the universal use of masks to halt the spread of Covid-19. Dr. Nitin Bawa wants to see mask use made mandatory, even if that requires government action.
Dr. Bawa cited a new study by the New England Journal of Medine on how simply speaking can produce invisible clouds of infectious droplets.
"From 200 to 300 small droplets that were produced, and this isn't even coughing or sneezing," he noted, adding the only effective way to prevent infecting others is for everyone to wear a mask outside their home.
"We should look at it as a civic duty. There are a lot of people who can be asymptomatic and can be transmitting the virus. So how do we know? We're not even coughing yet. But if we just talk at the grocery store, we might have it and we might transmit it to someone else."
Universal use of masks, he said, can slow the disease spread to the point of speeding up the economic recovery.
