Health officials emphasize mask use with signs, displays at Whatcom businesses
Whatcom County officials continue to stress the importance of wearing masks or face coverings to keep more people from getting sick with the new coronavirus, and they’re starting a campaign to help local businesses remind their customers about that.
A statewide order requires masks or face coverings inside public spaces such as stores and offices, and outdoors if social distancing of 6 feet can’t be maintained.
“Mask use can and does slow the spread of transmission in our community,” Health Department Director Erika Lautenbach said during an online press conference Wednesday, July 1.
Wearing a mask can reduce transmission rates by about 75%, which is important because people can be infected with COVID-19 and be contagious — but not feel symptoms.
To help drive home that message, Lautenbach said the Health Department will be giving signs and other information to local businesses so that they can display details about the mask order.
“It’s a way for businesses to show the efforts they’re taking to keep customers and employees safe,” she said.
They’re hoping for compliance without shaming people or resorting to disciplinary action, Lautenbach said.
Lautenbach emphasized that without widespread mask use, Whatcom County could see nearly 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day by Oct. 1,, according to a computer model developed by the Health Department and researchers at Western Washington University.
That model, posted last week at the Health Department website, assumed that 46% of people were complying with guidelines for wearing face coverings.
A second scenario assumed that 80% of people wore masks, and found the daily case count was five.
“We only have a few tools available to us without effective treatments or a vaccine, and those are masking, physical distancing, hand-washing hygiene measures — that’s about all we have,” Lautenbach said.
“If we don’t use those tools, we’re really limited in our ability to control the spread of this virus in our community,” she said.
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
