With a growing resurgence of new COVID cases across the country, should the state issue a mandate to require everyone to wear a mask? The short and obvious answer is yes. The benefits of wearing a mask far outweigh the detriments of being inconvenienced by wearing it.

A benefit that everyone should know by now of wearing a mask is that it lowers your chances of getting COVID-19. It doesn’t have to especially apply to just the virus. It can apply to other diseases that are contagious too. It is important to not spread the disease you have. Studies show that wearing a mask lowers your chances of getting the coronavirus by about 65%, which is a significant decrease in the percentage of people getting the coronavirus when wearing a mask in my opinion. 

Even though we are not at pandemic-level rates of cases anymore, people should still use masks regularly to keep themselves and others safe. Even if you don’t think that the 65% reduction is enough to warrant wearing a mask, you must concede that it is better to wear a mask than to forgo it. Some protection is better than nothing. 

According to the Time article “Should We Keep Wearing Masks Even After The Pandemic Ends?”  by Jaime Ducharme it states “Masks are minimally invasive, safe, cheap, effective…”  said Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at Australia’s University of New South Wales, who has studied the effectiveness of face masks. In my opinion, I do agree with her. The masks that we wear are exactly how she describes them, minimally invasive, safe, cheap, and effective. 

As the data suggests, we know masks are pretty effective. Masks help individuals not to spread COVID or get infected. They reduce the chances of getting infected by 65%. It’s not a pain to carry or have it on, and it proves to be effective since the cases of people getting infected has been shown to decrease. Make sure you wear your mask when you go to public places, and stay safe and healthy!