‘Simply wrong’

Dear Editor:

RE: ‘Pretty simple’, March 24.

Mr. Peter Hopper offers a simplistic viewpoint in his letter, suggesting that the wearing of facemasks achieves nothing in reducing transmission of COVID-19; and like all simplistic answers to complex issues, he is dead wrong.

Trials in the UK using hamsters (apparently a good test animal for COVID-19) show conclusively that masks greatly reduce, but do not totally eliminate, the spread of COVID-19.

Hopper’s argument is somewhat akin to the wearing of seatbelts. If I go around a blind bend on the wrong side of the road  at 150km/h and go head-on into an 18-wheel truck, my seatbelt is unlikely to save me; but in the great majority of car accidents, seat belts greatly reduce both death and injury.

Hopper seems to suggest that because mask-wearing does not give 100% guaranteed protection, we should not bother wearing them at all; in his words, “it’s pretty simple”.

Agreed, it is pretty simple; simply wrong.

David Brewer, Puslinch