50 signatures reached
To: Dr. Clayton Chau, Director, Orange County Health Care Agency
Protect & save lives: Strongly recommend wearing face masks in public and places of business
Recently Dr. Chau, of the Orange County Health Care Agency in California has rescinded the requirement to wear face masks in public to a suggestion. The conclusion people are having is that the pandemic has ended since face masks are no longer required. A 93-year-old woman recently commented that “Since face masks are not required, the virus must be over.” This is an erroneous interpretation, because no effort is being taken to correct this conclusion. This should not be the message being understood right now, especially since infection rates and deaths are still increasing.
It should be strongly recommended that people continue to wear face masks in public and in places of business. Wearing face masks has been found to be effective in reducing the spread of the Covid-19 virus. This is especially important now that we are reopening businesses. It should not be assumed that the virus has "gone away" because more businesses are reopening. On the contrary, we are now seeing an increase of infection because of a lax in attitude by not continuing the precautionary measures that have been used at the onset of the Covid-19 virus. Some of this increase is due to the availability of more testing, but this is not the only data point. The numbers are increasing because the virus is still very active and is continuing to spread.
Orange County health officials should immediately and proactively move to:
(1) Educate the community on the merits of wearing face masks in public places and in businesses.
(2) Use various forms of mass media and local media to communicate this message repeatedly and with urgency.
It should be strongly recommended that people continue to wear face masks in public and in places of business. Wearing face masks has been found to be effective in reducing the spread of the Covid-19 virus. This is especially important now that we are reopening businesses. It should not be assumed that the virus has "gone away" because more businesses are reopening. On the contrary, we are now seeing an increase of infection because of a lax in attitude by not continuing the precautionary measures that have been used at the onset of the Covid-19 virus. Some of this increase is due to the availability of more testing, but this is not the only data point. The numbers are increasing because the virus is still very active and is continuing to spread.
Orange County health officials should immediately and proactively move to:
(1) Educate the community on the merits of wearing face masks in public places and in businesses.
(2) Use various forms of mass media and local media to communicate this message repeatedly and with urgency.
Why is this important?
Timing is critical to reduce the rate of infection in Orange County. We should not allow the opinions of a minority of the people acting out with their emotions and threatening officials to drive public policy. Decisions should be made from research conducted by doctors, scientists and investigators.
Next steps
We are requesting that you and the Orange County governing administration launch an aggressive campaign to inform and educate the community that the Covid-19 Pandemic is not over and why it is strongly recommended that we continue to wear face masks publicly and in places of business.
The communication campaign can be broadly diversified via informative TV commercials, targeted advertisements on social media (Facebook, YouTube), blog posts, educational materials mailed to each household, celebrity endorsements, local businesses displaying signs in their buildings, articles in local newspapers with bold headlines that include the words, "strongly suggest wearing face masks," and appearances on local TV news broadcasts and radio stations as well.
Next steps
We are requesting that you and the Orange County governing administration launch an aggressive campaign to inform and educate the community that the Covid-19 Pandemic is not over and why it is strongly recommended that we continue to wear face masks publicly and in places of business.
The communication campaign can be broadly diversified via informative TV commercials, targeted advertisements on social media (Facebook, YouTube), blog posts, educational materials mailed to each household, celebrity endorsements, local businesses displaying signs in their buildings, articles in local newspapers with bold headlines that include the words, "strongly suggest wearing face masks," and appearances on local TV news broadcasts and radio stations as well.