The sputtering roll-out of vaccines to combat the spread of COVID-19, combined with new, more contagious strains of the coronavirus, have placed a renewed focus on mask wearing. Boston College Associate Professor of Law Dean Hashimoto, M.D., says evidence from the first year of the pandemic points to masks and their use as one of the surest ways to limit transmission of the virus.
Hashimoto鈥檚 new book, , examines the earliest science to emerge on mask wearing during the pandemic, which has so far claimed more than 500,000 lives in the U.S.
With that science, Hashimoto makes a compelling argument for the benefits of masking, a seemingly straightforward solution that quickly became tangled in political leaning, complaints over religious and personal liberty, as well as conflicting reports in mainstream and social media about the benefits and risks of face coverings.
Dean Hashimoto (Caitlin Cunningham)
鈥淔undamentally, it is a public health need,鈥� said Hashimoto, who is also the chief medical officer and leader of the Workplace Health and Wellness Division at Mass General Brigham, the largest health care provider in Massachusetts. 鈥淢asking is misunderstood by an important segment of the population: those resistant to masking. Most people don鈥檛 have a basic understanding as to why wearing a mask is important.鈥�
In part, a lot of attention has gone to other aspects of the pandemic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not very sexy,鈥� said Hashimoto. 鈥淢asking has not received the same amount of attention as vaccinations or drug therapies. But if you look at the data, they are very impressive about the positive, beneficial impact that masking has.鈥�
Hashimoto learned firsthand about the benefits of masking as Mass General Brigham responded to the massive public health crisis. With 75,000 employees, the hospital group saw an 鈥渋mmediate and remarkable鈥� decline in infection rates after requiring universal masking with surgical masks for employees and patients, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
When his book was first published in October, even some of his medical colleagues questioned his contention that masks were more important than vaccines to end the pandemic. President Biden鈥檚 endorsement of mask wearing and policy changes designed to encourage their use are welcome turnabouts, Hashimoto said.
鈥淚t is becoming clear that while the vaccination campaign is important, we need to emphasize masking if we hope to maximize the impact of vaccinations,鈥� said Hashimoto.
Other examples Hashimoto cites include the impact of gatherings where no one wore a mask. A choir practice in Washington state last March resulted in 52 of the 61 participants testing positive for COVID-19 or showing signs of the illness.
On the other hand, at a hair salon in Springfield, Mo., two stylists with COVID-19 symptoms continued to work for nearly two weeks, serving 139 clients before testing positive. But because they wore masks鈥攔equired by local rules and company regulations mandating masks for employees and clients鈥攏one of their clients developed symptoms or tested positive.
“Vaccines are not necessarily the silver bullet to this pandemic. Masking remains essential to controlling and managing the spread of disease.”