JUDY WOODRUFF: With more and more states experiencing spikes in coronavirus cases and COVID-19 hospitalizations,
the debate over wearing face masks is creating a sharp divide among some Americans.
In a moment, William Brangham will talk with a doctor about the evidence surrounding masks,
but, first, he begins with this report.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Even though nearly everyone in the public health community says wearing
a mask in crowded places can help slow the spread of this pandemic, for some, masks are
an affront.
AUBREY HUFF, Former Major League Baseball Player: I understand the coronavirus is real.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Former Major League Baseball player Aubrey Huff summed up this view:
AUBREY HUFF: Hell, I would rather die from coronavirus than to live the rest of my life
in fear and wearing a damn mask.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Every week, social media lights up with videos of people resisting
mask requirements.
MAN: I work for Costco, and I'm asking this member to wear a mask, because that is our
company policy. So, either wear the mask...
MAN: And I'm not doing it because I woke up in a free country.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: On the flip side, there are numerous stories of people engaging in
mask shaming, like here, where shoppers in a grocery store hound a woman for not wearing
one.
This fight is also spilling into government.
MAN: Wearing masks decreases the shed of this virus.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In Montgomery, Alabama, after a parade of doctors and nurses testified
about the surge of COVID hospitalizations and the need for masks, the City Council on
Tuesday voted down a face mask requirement.
BRANTLEY LYONS, Montgomery, Alabama, City Council: I think this is an overreach of the
government. I think to make somebody do something or require somebody to wear something is overreach.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But the next day, Montgomery's mayor passed an executive order requiring
them.
Some governors, like California's Gavin Newsom, require everyone wear masks in public places.
But Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, has banned cities and counties from
fining residents who refuse to wear them.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): All of us have a collective responsibility to educate the public
that wearing a mask is the best thing to do. Putting people in jail, however, is the wrong
approach.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health
Organization both now recommend people wear cloth masks as a proven prevention strategy.
But that wasn't always their recommendation, and that reversal has added to people's suspicion.
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently tried to explain that change, saying officials were worried
about early mask shortages for health care workers.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID Director: We wanted to make sure that the people, namely, the
health care workers who were brave enough to put themselves in harm's way, we did not
want them to be without the equipment that they needed.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: President Trump this week suggested some people choose to wear masks
not for protection, but to signal they don't like him.
And with rare exception, and against the advice of his own officials, the president has repeatedly
refused to wear a mask in public. Across the country, many of his supporters are following
his lead.
For more on the politics and the science of mask wearing, I'm joined now by Dr. Ranit
Mishori. She is a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine,
and she is also the senior medical adviser for Physicians for Human Rights.
Dr. Mishori, very nice to see you again. Thank you for being here.
Before we get to the politics issue, could you just remind us about the science, about
the efficacy of masks?
DR. RANIT MISHORI, Georgetown University School of Medicine: Yes, well, it's almost -- it
seems like almost every day we're getting a new study that shows that face masks are
actually pretty efficacious in trying to curb the transmission of the coronavirus.
From studies in labs, to modeling studies, to actual studies in communities, we have
seen evidence that wearing a mask can be extremely efficacious in lowering the transmission rate
and getting people not to be infected with the virus.
So, we're seeing really impressive numbers. We're seeing one study from "Health Affairs,"
which was a modeling study, but it showed that wearing a mask, the more states that
allow that or mandate that, that we can avert the transmission to between 230,000 and 450,000
people. That's a lot of people for an action that is so easy, so simple, and only mildly
inconvenient.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Mildly inconvenient is right.
As I mentioned in that tape piece, there was a lot of mixed messaging that came out at
first at the beginning of the pandemic, where public health officials said, there's no need
for American citizens to wear masks, and then, all of a sudden, that switched.
You saw Dr. Fauci's response to that. What do you make of that mixed messaging, and the
confusion it might have sowed?
DR. RANIT MISHORI: Yes, there's no question that there was confusion.
And, remember, in the old days back then, it seems like years ago, those were the same
messages that I gave to my own patients. But the reality is, back then, we didn't have
as many studies specifically looking at coronavirus. We had studies based on wearing masks for
flu prevention.
So, one thing is, the science is evolving when it comes to the coronavirus, on everything,
including mask wearing, but also clinical management is changing basically on a daily
basis. So that's one reason.
But the other one, as he was talking about, is that, at the time, there was a huge shortage
in personal protective equipment for physicians. And there was a concern that, if everybody
ran out to get the N95 or even the surgical masks, then nothing would be left for physicians
and nurses and other health professionals.
And that would mean that those people who come in the closest contact with very, very
sick people wouldn't be protected. But now the shortages are not as bad, and we have
a lot more research that shows that this is very effective.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, what do you make of these protests? If the evidence is so clear
-- and, as you say, it's really not that much of an inconvenience -- how do you explain
this growing sort of revolt against wearing masks among some parts of the population?
DR. RANIT MISHORI: As a doctor, it's really, really hard to accept it and to look at it
and think that it's appropriate or acceptable.
It has become very socially and politically contentious, of course. I think some people
think that the coronavirus pandemic itself is a hoax. And if that is a hoax, and it's
not really happening, then why would I need a mask?
Other people see it through a political lens. They think of people who wear a mask as somehow
sending anti-Trump messages. But, again, as a public health person, as a doctor, I think
we need to see it through the lens of public health, through the lens of helping somebody
else in your community be protected.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I want to turn to a slightly different issue, and that is that, in some
states that have been reopening recently in the last weeks or month, we have seen a spike
in new infection rates and those very troubling charts from each state of new cases going
up.
The president and some of his administration have argued that we shouldn't be alarmed at
those spike in cases, and that's simply a reflection that we're doing more testing,
and so we're finding more cases.
That, in part, may be true, but that's really not the whole story, right?
DR. RANIT MISHORI: Absolutely.
I mean, yes, when we test more, we will find more. But what's really happening is, beyond
the increased number of testing, is that we're seeing hospitals being overwhelmed, ICUs being
filled to capacity, people going into the hospitals.
So a lot of it is about the capacity of hospitals and the fact that more people are showing
up and are sick enough to require hospitalization, which, to me, is a sign that it's not just
about testing. It's about more people actually getting very sick.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Dr. Ranit Mishori of Georgetown University Medical School, thank you so much
for being here again.
DR. RANIT MISHORI: Thank you so much for having me. Appreciate that.