JUDGE: To mask or not to mask - that is the question

When you get out in public, there are two types of people; those wearing a face mask and those who are not. There are those who scoff at the idea of wearing a mask and compare the COVID virus to the flu. There are those who claim that wearing a mask is somehow more harmful than not wearing a mask. Finally, some say that wearing a mask violates their civil liberties.  

Ladies and gentlemen, all of these claims are simply not accurate. If we don’t take responsibility for our own actions, we will quickly return to the lockdown phase.  Those who refuse to wear a mask are spreading the virus. Just this week we have a record number of cases in the county including a five year old and nine people from rest homes!  

We are in a “pandemic.” The common flu has never been considered a pandemic.   

Since 1945 we have flu vaccines and various other effective medical treatments for the flu.  Today the CDC estimates that about 0.1 percent of those who get the flu die from the flu and that about 6 percent of those that get the virus die from the virus.  There is no cure for the virus.  There is no vaccine for the virus. Today, just five short months since the first reported death attributed to the virus (in this country) we have over 130,000 deaths in the U.S.A.

There is absolutely no basis in fact that wearing a mask causes physical harm to the person wearing a mask. If that were the case, why would doctors and nurses wear them every day? Why have they been worn in operating rooms, since the beginning of modern surgery? To prevent the spread of germs.  

Today, the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the Surgeon General, the health departments of every state in the Nation, Governor Abbott, the Milam County Health Department and your County Judge all know and recommend that wearing a mask makes a huge difference in the spread of the virus. That is why I placed a disaster order in effect on June 29, 2020, and that is why the Governor put a similar order in effect on July 2, 2020.

For those that claim their civil liberties are being violated, I say hogwash. Those who don’t wear a mask are violating the civil liberties and the health and safety of those who are wearing masks. The primary function of a face mask is to prevent the spread of this highly contagious respiratory virus to the next person.  Remember, the virus is spread by those who have symptoms and those that do not.

I implore every citizen of Milam County to wear a mask while out in public.  Please do your part to prevent others from getting sick.  Please do your part to keep the economy up and running.  Remember we have schools that need to open in just five weeks and if we don’t control the virus, how can we safely send our children to school?  There is simply no good excuse to not wear a mask.