The novel nature of Covid-19 has meant that, as far as understanding the best ways to combat it, we are still learning.
Wearing masks has certainly been one of the points mulled over; over time, there have been numerous stances taken on who should wear them and who should not.
However, it is no coincidence that countries which have been able to control the spread of Covid-19 most effectively, and have seen far fewer deaths, have one thing in common: They have all stressed on wearing face masks in public at all times, and a majority of the population followed the orders.
To that end, Bangladesh would do well to follow such countries, and moving forward, make the wearing of masks mandatory for all citizens in public spaces during this pandemic.
Masks achieve a dual purpose that is often not addressed: They protect the wearer, but more importantly, they protect others around the wearer from being infected. What is important here is that the masks do not need to be medically certified to be effective; research shows that even a simple cotton mask will significantly reduce the number of virus particles emitted from our mouths.
As the government considers relaxing the lockdown, there need to be strategies in place so that we do not experience a second outbreak of the virus.
To that end, there is no alternative but to make the wearing of masks mandatory in public places, as this will have an exponential benefit in our attempt to stop the spread of the virus, and will eventually help save lives.
