[BoulderCouncilHotline] Mandatory indoor mask order proposal and justification

[Weaver, Sam]

Fellow Council Members and HOTLINE followers,

One of the most important steps in preventing the transmission of the novel coronavirus which causes the COVID disease in our community is the wearing of masks in public.  Most importantly, a very high proportion of infections occur indoors, where air is mostly stagnant and where there are many surfaces which can preserve the virus.  Mask-wearing prevents virus-bearing moisture particles from a COVID-positive individual from entering their environment upon sneezing, coughing, or speaking.  I believe that the city of Boulder should make mask-wearing mandatory indoors in places of public accommodation until we have reason to believe this is no longer necessary.  The Governor's order from last week seems to require this in 'critical businesses' but making mask-wearing mandatory in all indoor business spaces, especially those serving customers seems critical.

We will discuss this issue during the COVID response portion of the City Council meeting, so I wanted to provide some information.  Below is a very good article from the Atlantic on how mask-wearing reduces virus transmission:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/dont-wear-mask-yourself/610336/

Below (and attached as a JPEG) is a simple graphic illustrating the benefits of mask-wearing.  We are attempting to determine if the percentages are roughly correct, but the take-away is the same: two mask-wearing individuals have much less chance of transmission than any other circumstance:

[Image]

All the best,

Sam Weaver

[cid:image002.png at 01D61C7A.B0586820]<http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/>

weavers at bouldercolorado.gov
Phone: 303-416-6130

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