‘Masks work, Bajans. Wear them’

Infectious disease expert Dr Corey Forde has cautioned Barbadians to take mask-wearing and frequent sanitizing of hands seriously, if the island is ever to fully control the spread of COVID-19.

While speaking during a nationally broadcast COVID-19 update from Ilaro Court on Monday, Dr Forde said that though some may question the effectiveness of wearing a mask to combat the spread, the science supporting it is strong and well-tested.

He explained: “I can stand in a room with a person with COVID, and once I have my mask on and use the appropriate hand sanitizer which is graded, then it puts you in a state to decrease your risk.

“It’s like what we do at Harrison’s Point – now people are afraid when you say you work at Harrison’s point, [they] don’t want to come next to you, [and] it’s the way how it almost was when HIV/AIDS first started.

“The truth is, the reason why you are doing these protective measures is to stop that spread from you. So I can be in the same room as someone who has COVID, but once I have my mask on, it decreases that risk of transmission to myself.”

Dr Forde, who is the head of isolations facilities, said that when masks are worn, the transmission rate could be reduced to as much as 80 per cent, which when added to other health protocol measures, helps to stem the spread of the virus even further.

When asked why Government has yet to implement a mask mandate, Prime Minister Mia Mottley admitted that discussions around the topic had indeed been brought up in the Cabinet sub-committee overseeing the virus, but because of the wide adoption rate of the masks by Barbadians, that extra step has not been seen as necessary at this point.

The Prime Minister said: “What I have also learned over 30 years of public life, is that when you make things mandatory, people then get penalized and criminalized for the breach itself as opposed to the substance.

“To that extent, we have strongly encouraged it, we have seen a large increase of the use of it. I am disposed to having a conversation about making it mandatory for indoor activities, but by the same token, for outdoors, I think that the medical people have sufficiently said the risk is far less there.” (SB)