😷Essential Services Need Mask Requirements😷
😷Essential Services Need Mask Requirements😷
A letter to send to government representatives, healthcare providers, transit authorities, store managers, and community leaders.
NOTE: New letter available as of 12 April 2023
We need mask requirements at essential services to protect all of us.
Below is a letter I'm sending to all my representatives. Americans & Canadians can use this form to send the letter to representatives in government, edited how you please. Or you can copy & paste the letter, edit it however you like, to send to whoever you want, in whatever way suits you. Thanks for helping me advocate for precautions.
Sincerely,
Chloe
Mask requirements are necessary at high-risk essential service settings to keep these services accessible, and as safe as possible for everyone — but especially for those at risk in our communities.
Telling people who are concerned to “just wear a mask yourself” is NOT adequate because “one way masking” is not even possible at places like the DMV, dentists, and other healthcare providers where people are forced to remove their own masks. Public transit, healthcare waiting rooms, and government offices are often crowded or poorly ventilated areas which are well known to promote the spread of infectious disease. Source control is vital in these spaces.
It is not acceptable that anyone, especially disabled and elderly, are being put at preventable risk.
It is now estimated that as many as 1 in 5 people who suffer a COVID infection will experience Long Covid or other post-covid conditions. Vaccination reduces this risk by only 15% -- it does not eliminate the risk.1
COVID exposure in the womb can cause miscarriage or neurological disorders in children. 2
COVID remains dangerous to many, despite vaccination, and high risk patients need to access healthcare providers and other services.3
Universal masking has been demonstrated to greatly reduce the risk of COVID exposure. 4
There is no shortage of N95s anymore and hasn’t been in a long time, so staff & others can and should be provided with high quality masks.5
References:
CDC: Nearly One in Five American Adults Who Have Had COVID-19 Still Have “Long COVID”
(New data from the Household Pulse Survey show that more than 40% of adults in the United States reported having COVID-19 in the past, and nearly one in five of those (19%) are currently still having symptoms of “long COVID.”)
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220622.htm
JAMA Network: Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 1 Year in Infants of Mothers Who Tested Positive for SARS-CoV-2 During Pregnancy
(“Findings: In this cohort study of 7772 infants delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic, those born to the 222 mothers with a positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction test during pregnancy were more likely to receive a neurodevelopmental diagnosis in the first 12 months after delivery, even after accounting for preterm delivery.”)
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2793178
Long COVID risk falls only slightly after vaccination, huge study shows
(“Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 lowers the risk of long COVID after infection by only about 15%, according to a study of more than 13 million people.”)
Efficacy of face masks against respiratory infectious diseases: a systematic review and network analysis of randomized-controlled trials
("Eleven out of 16 RCTs that underwent a pairwise meta-analysis revealed a substantially lower infection risk in those donning medical face masks (MFMs) than those without face masks (RR 0.83 95% CI 0.71-0.96). Given the body of evidence through a systematic review and meta-analyses, our findings supported the protective benefits of MFMs in reducing respiratory transmissions, and the universal mask-wearing should be applied-especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.")
FDA Recommends Transition from Use of Decontaminated Disposable Respirators - Letter to Health Care Personnel and Facilities
(“FDA and CDC believe there is adequate supply of respirators to transition away from use of decontamination and bioburden reduction systems.”)
To post on social media:
short url for this page: tinyurl.com/essentialmasks
Hey Chloe, just wondering: when I add my details to the letter and click Start Writing, I get the message "Sorry, no recipients were found. Please enter an address to try again." Is that intentional (no targets set) because the intent of the form is just display a boilerplate letter? Thanks so much for doing this.