Boulder Bulletin

Let me share with you a few things written to me by Boulder residents this week: “I’ve been confused on mask wearing in both the City and the County,” wrote one man. “I don’t think I’m alone, judging by the amount of conflicting information I’m seeing on Next Door and out in public.” Or, as one woman lamented, succinctly, “It has been frustrating and scary.”

The guidance and rules around the wearing of face coverings is complicated by the fact that there are four different government layers—federal, state, county, and city—each requiring slightly different things. And with the stay-at-home orders along the Front Range expiring at the end of the day on Friday, getting it right on face coverings is all the more important as some businesses re-open this weekend and people start to come into more frequent physical contact with each other. Here are five W’s to help clarify the face covering requirements in Boulder:

What: Before explaining how the various government rules on face coverings interplay, and how they apply to you, it’s probably helpful to first define what a “face covering” actually is. We use the short-hand term “mask,” and many people do, in fact, wear masks, either purchased or stitched together on their own. My seamstress wife, Katy, has already assembled more than 50 masks, for folks as diverse as volunteer firefighters, to EFAA clients, to the kids with I Have a Dream. But, a face covering need not be a proper mask and it need not be medically-certified. What counts is any cloth or fabric material that covers your mouth and nose and reduces the amount of potentially virus-carrying droplets spewing on others. You can read the official definition of face covering in State of Colorado Public Health Order 20-26, found here. And the Colorado Mask Project website explains how you can buy a mask, or make your own.

Why: Although you don’t need to dive too deeply into the Web to find people who will tell you that they don’t think that mask-wearing makes a difference, the Centers for Disease Control has been pretty unequivocal on the point: “We know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (‘asymptomatic’), and that even those who eventually develop symptoms (‘pre-symptomatic’) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms. This means that the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity—for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing—even if those people are not exhibiting symptoms. In light of this new evidence, the CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.” That seems pretty darn clear to me. If I can understand it, surely anyone can. I’ll take the professional public health advice of the CDC over some blogging self-appointed “expert” any day of the week.

When and where: This is where it can get a little confusing, because... Read more ☞

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