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Professor Mohapatra: Mandating Masks Creates Conundrum
05/21/2020
Should communities mandate the wearing of masks due to the COVID-19 crisis?
As states begin to loosen their COVID-19 restrictions, public debate is underway about what public health measures are appropriate. Many states have some form of mask-wearing orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. Public health guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization has conflicted advice.
From a public health point of view, it is not clear what the right answer is, but mandating masks might not be the answer, according to “COVID-19 and the Conundrum of Mask Requirements” by Associate Professor of Law and Dean's Fellow Seema Mohapatra and coauthor, Professor Robert Gatter of the Saint Louis University School of Law.
The article, forthcoming in Washington and Lee Law Review Online, describes that conundrum, including the legal and policy issues in play.
In the absence of directives, individuals are also making their own choices about mask use. At a time when public health measures, like shelter-in-place orders and social distancing, are being used to stop the spread of coronavirus, wearing masks can be seen as a form of solidarity and desire to not infect others. Similarly, not wearing a mask can also be a political statement of sorts, the authors write.
Another important issue: black men wearing masks have reported being asked to leave stores and fearing for their own safety and there is the potential for policing against African Americans when mask mandates are in place. “We advise caution against mask mandates,” Professors Mohapatra and Gatter write. “Rather, we suggest ways to support mask use, such as normalizing their use via advertising and media buy-in.”
