Group Of 12,000 Infectious Disease Experts Say Federal Mask Mandate ‘Needed To Save Lives’

The organizations, which collectively represent more than 12,000 infectious disease and HIV experts, physicians and health professionals, request a “strong federal directive calling for mask requirements in all states,” and to “launch a public education campaign about the importance of wearing masks.”

The letter also specifically asks for the federal government to require individuals in the White House complex to wear masks and “lead by the power of example”, though masks are currently not required in the complex.

The letter also said that the U.S. has a “critical window of time” to bring down its cases of Covid-19 before influenza season starts, at which point “it is likely that hospitals will become overwhelmed and lives will be lost due to a shortage of ICU beds, ventilators and other essential equipment.”

The letter points to research from Goldman Sachs that projects expanding mask-wearing by 15% would prevent having to implement further stay-at-home orders that would cost an estimated $1 trillion.

Face masks are “integral” to a “broader national strategy” on Covid-19, the letter notes, which should also include measures like “increasing testing capacity and its timeliness to bolster the impact of contact tracing,” widely available personal protective equipment and support for the “discovery, development and equitable distribution” of Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics.

An NPR/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found that 67% of Americans want a national Covid-19 strategy and 76% support state laws requiring masks, but President Donald Trump has so far resisted calls for a national mask mandate and said only that his administration is currently “in the process of developing” a national strategy.