I WAS somewhat irritated to read the letter by Sally Smith in the Saturday, January 1 edition.
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She states that "bringing back masks doesn't stop the spread".
What is the biomedical evidence for that statement?
Personally, I am happy to follow the advice of our public health experts when they tell us that the wearing of face masks, along with other measures such as social distancing and hand hygiene, will make a difference to the spread of COVID-19.
OTHER RECENT LETTERS:
It may not stop the spread of COVID-19 but it undoubtedly helps.
It is pretty clear that the above measures have been a significant factor in the much-reduced incidence of influenza over the last two years.
Is it really such an imposition to wear a face mask?
Perhaps those who do object to wearing a face mask haven't been personally confronted by the illness or death which COVID-19 can bring.
Perhaps they simply can't be bothered.
That leads me to her second point.
She states that "the health department is taking our human rights away".
We live in a society. By most comparisons we are fortunate to live in this society and enjoy our way of life; enjoy freedoms denied to many in other countries around the world.
However, with rights come responsibilities.
If individual rights were all that we needed to worry about then we could just have a free for all. Chaos would ensue and the rights of many would be trampled on by those with indifference to others.
Fortunately, the majority don't see it that way and acknowledge that we only have human rights to the extent that those rights don't conflict with the rights of others.
To achieve this end, societies are governed by the rule of law.
Laws are created to protect us all and hopefully achieve justice for all. As an example, we accept that there need to be road rules to avoid mayhem and carnage.
As citizens of this society, we reasonably expect that our fellow citizens will do what they can to protect us and vice-versa.
If that is not sufficient reason, we owe it to the many health and other workers who strive to protect and save us from severe illness or death.
Those workers have risen to the challenge caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, often at great cost to themselves.
The least that we can do is support them.
So, is having to wear a face mask taking your human rights away? Hardly.
