EPISD should keep masks mandatory when inside district buildings. Without masks the risk of catching and spreading COVID-19 increases and puts other people in danger.

It has been proven by the CDC that wearing a mask lowers the risk of catching the virus. Wearing a mask doesn’t automatically make one immune.

However, it is highly effective. The virus is spread when people who have already contracted the virus release droplets when they cough, sneeze, breathe, etc.

Those droplets then travel through the air and later get inhaled by someone who doesn’t have the virus. This cycle then continues and spreads the virus even more.

The CDC suggests wearing a proper mask because it reduces the emission of the virus – laden droplets. The idea of wearing a mask is just source control.

No one has the same immune system either. Some could suffer from respiratory issues that affect the way they breathe and leave them vulnerable to catching the virus.

Others could be the elderly whose immune system is fragile and incapable of combating the virus.

Spreading COVID-19 without a mask is like a game of Russian roulette. Anyone could get picked, and the consequences could be deadly.

Furthermore, wearing a mask is just the safest option in our current society.

It’s just taking percussion. It doesn’t hurt anyone, nor does it make anyone less of who they are.

A majority of anti-maskers however, promote the idea that wearing a mask is dehumanizing and that it is a form of government control.

That ideology contradicts itself. A mask is nothing more than a piece of fabric. So, if wearing it is dehumanizing, then wearing shirts and pants should also be considered dehumanizing.

Glasses are as well-worn on the face just like masks are, yet no one raises any conflicts with them. As for government control, that is nothing more than a conspiracy theory.

Conspiracy theories that revolve around a higher form of power (government) have been circulating since the beginning of hierarchy and forms of government.

Just how the mask decreases the chances of contracting the virus, is similar to how a condom decreases the chances of STDs or unwanted pregnancy.

On condom packaging labels, it explicitly tells the buyer that the condom isn’t 100 percent effective.

With that being said couples still use a condom to lower their chances of any of the effects of not wearing a condom during sex.

That is a perfect analogy for the use of masks.

Even though masks aren’t fully a guarantee of not catching the virus, we should still wear them to prevent any further damage and to make it safer for other people.

Wearing a mask in general saves lives. Doctors wear masks during surgery to prevent catching any diseases.

Spray painters wear masks in order to prevent inhaling any toxic fumes from the spray paint.

People should wear masks to protect themselves and others in this moment of crisis.

Not wearing a mask is a personal choice, but someone’s opinion shouldn’t involve the sake of others’ health and wellbeing.

If the possibility of eliminating COVID-19 wants to become a reality, then the first step is to start mandating the use of masks in public places such as schools.