The coronavirus crisis highlights the importance of maintaining trust as a decisive factor in winning the battle against the pandemic. Instead of just focusing on understanding the biological aspect of how to defeat the pathogen, social measures should be given equal attention to bring about the often-quoted “flattening of the curve” before effective medicines and vaccines could be produced.
The social measures being implemented in most countries consisting of social distancing at the individual level — staying at home, avoiding mass gatherings, protecting vulnerable groups — require personal self-discipline.
It is quite timely for the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to publish guidelines in this respect against a background of a continuing surge in new cases (“Virus Outbreak: Practice social distancing, CECC says,” April 1, page 1). Needless to say, person-to-person trust is the cornerstone of any successful social distancing policy.
Speaking about wearing a mask, it is not just in Taiwan and East Asia that people are coming to realize its merit in slowing the spread of the disease, especially when there are asymptomatic carriers posing as a possible source of transmission (“Virus Outbreak: Testing asymptomatic people seen as key addition,” March 31, page 3).
The list of Western countries mandating compulsory wearing of masks in public places now include the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Austria. Despite the absence of mask wearing habits in these places, the populations have taken up their government’s advice and civic effort in sewing masks in the Czech Republic is particularly impressive.
In the Slovak Republic, which has recently had a change of government, agreement with previous and present government measures, including masking, reached a high of 80 percent.
It is clear that a high level of trust in the government can translate to effective policy implementation to curtail large-scale spread of the disease.
However, the waning of trust in the WHO, an institution which according to its mission aims to “advocate and catalyze global and country actions to resolve the human resources for health crisis” is apparent. On the issue of masking, the agency could have been more helpful if it had taken a serious look at the issue from practical and scientific angles rather than continuing to stand against it.
The latest guidance document from the WHO continues to cite a lack of evidence on efficacy, cultural habits of specific countries, insufficient supply and competing procurement with medical personnel, and more harm done than good if worn improperly, to downplay the values of mass masking.
No doubt there is increasing unease in the medical community, which is calling for the WHO to rethink its mask policy and provide clearer guidance to the public.
The evidence base for masking is not a complete blank as assumed with previous study concluding that professional and homemade masks can equally reduce respiratory infections.
The worldwide DIY mask-making movement elicited at the grassroots level should be given some credit where they have churned out alternatives that are considered a worthy last resort given the supply constraints.
Already, more health authorities, such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are contemplating mass-masking in the face of a reality of asymptomatic, but highly infectious coronavirus carriers.
It would fall on the WHO to realign with common sense and science to ensure that it does not lose the trust that this institution is supposed to engender during times of public health crisis.
Benjamin Tak-Yuen Chan is dean of LiPACE, Open University of Hong Kong.
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