Australian Medical Association (AMA) President Tony Bartone is calling for a nationwide mask policy, arguing Australia would not be in the position it was now if masks were more prevalent earlier in the pandemic:
“We’re recommending that it should be extremely, ubiquitously recommended everyone wear a mask to reduce the spread,” he told Sky News.
“If people had been wearing masks at an earlier stage in this cycle, we would have significantly reduced the numbers.”
Mr Bartone said the AMA acknowledged “areas of resistance” towards COVID-19 policies.
“COVID-19 is still there, it’s not going away and we have to change the way we live our lives, not just now but into the future until we get a vaccine that allows us to get back to some sort of pre-COVID normalcy.”
Face masks should at least be required in public indoors spaces, where person-to-person contact is most likely. Anyone that is sick should also wear a mask whenever they leave the house.
The below video from VOX explains why masks are effective:
That said, there’s less need to wear face masks in places like Western Australia and South Australia, where COVID-19 has been eradicated outside of hotel quarantine.
