This ones going to get me in trouble, but it NEEDS to be said. R.I.P. my mentions.

Here’s the thing: if you wear a mask in public but NOT when you get together with family and/or friends, then you are likely one of the biggest contributors to the current spread.

(thread)

Some links for you to read. This one analyzed why masks couldn’t successfully stop the spread during the 1918 pandemic. Do you know what they found?

https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200508.769108/full/

People wore them in public, where they naturally have a certain distance from ofhers, but didn’t wear them in private gatherings with friends & family, where they naturally have more physical contact and more prolonged exposure. This rendered them ineffective.

And now we see history repeating. This is a link from here in the Portland, OR area: https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2020/06/22/as-cases-rise-in-multnomah-county-officials-offer-an-explanation-clusters-in-families/

“We've seen that increase in the last few weeks ... it’s human nature to expect that the people who might be more risky to someone would be strangers, and the people that would be more safe are the people that they know, especially family and friends."

“But Toevs said it's family & friends who are spreading the virus to each other. ‘Those are the people who more likely to infect you because they're going to be closer to you in your personal space & usually you're going to be interacting with them for a longer period of time.’ “

We just saw another tragic example of this come out of Texas this week: https://www.kvue.com/mobile/article/news/north-texas-family-shaken-after-18-relatives-test-positive-for-covid-19-following-surprise-birthday-party/287-ea8960ea-4c3c-40c1-b75e-f4437fe6f836

Don’t miss the details in that story. Like one family member even sat outside on the front porch at a distance from the others - and she still ended up infected.

They (supposedly) tried to distance. They washed hands. They staggered so that not everyone was all there at once.

But they didn’t use masks.

Bottom line of all this:

If you are wearing masks in public but still meeting unmasked with family/friends outside your household, you are one of the biggest potential spreaders of COVID-19. Unmasked personal gathering are RISKIER in many ways than walking unmasked in public.

You are more likely to have sustained close contact interactions with your friends and loved ones than you are with a stranger you briefly pass in the grocery store. So it’s simply illogical to wear masks in public and then discard them when with people you know. It’s backwards.

Wear masks for *both.*

And remember that masks don’t *replace* other measures, like physical distancing. These measures are designed to work *together* to reduce risk.

Not *eliminate* risk, just reduce it.

Which is why, as hard as it is, you should still limit your physical in- person interactions as much as possible. Yes, use masks and distancing when you meet with others, but reduce those meetings as much as possible.

Remember, the data shows that in most places in the US it’s actually *more* dangerous out there right now than it was in March/April when many of us were under Stay At Home orders. Our behavior should reflect that. We should take LESS risks, not more.