It's Time to Up Your Mask Fashion Game: Face Coverings Now Required Indoors in Oregon | The Source Weekly - Bend, Oregon

It's Time to Up Your Mask Fashion Game: Face Coverings Now Required Indoors in Oregon

Starting July 1, shopping unmasked is not an option.

Earlier this month, Gov. Kate Brown mandated the wearing of face coverings in public indoor spaces for eight Oregon counties. As of July 1, that mandate extends to all of Oregon—including people right here in Central Oregon.

“I do not want to have to close down businesses again like other states are now doing," Brown stated in a release Monday. "If you want your local shops and restaurants to stay open, then wear a face covering when out in public."

It's Time to Up Your Mask Fashion Game: Face Coverings Now Required Indoors in Oregon
Needpix
Perhaps a lacy, blingin' mask is your jam?

Oregon Occupational Safety and Health is the agency in charge of enforcing the new rule, Brown's release stated. Thus far, OSHA has been the principal arbiter of COVID-19 related enforcement. Numerous Central Oregon businesses are facing thousands in fines for failing to comply with health and safety guidelines.

In Bend and Central Oregon, wearing masks among the general public has been something of a mixed bag. Anecdotal observations have shown about half of people choosing not to wear them in places including grocery stores. And restaurants? Well, eating while wearing a mask is a complicated task. Still, ongoing studies of the more scientific kind have consistently shown that mask wearing can slow down transmission of respiratory illnesses, including the novel coronavirus.

While those charts you see circulating on social media—showing the percent effectiveness of wearing a mask versus not wearing one—have been shown to be mostly false due to there being "no scientific consensus exists on the efficacy of homemade masks in stopping the spread of COVID-19," according to Snopes, actual studies have indicated that masks can help.

It's Time to Up Your Mask Fashion Game: Face Coverings Now Required Indoors in Oregon
Wallpaper Flare
Or perhaps some classic gingham is your mask fashion statement?

A review published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies in late April concluded that, "community mask use by well people could be beneficial, particularly for COVID-19, where transmission may be pre-symptomatic. The studies of masks as source control also suggest a benefit, and may be important during the COVID-19 pandemic in universal community face mask use as well as in health care settings."

With the big 4th of July holiday approaching, Brown said she is concerned about gatherings.

It's Time to Up Your Mask Fashion Game: Face Coverings Now Required Indoors in Oregon
Pikrepo
Unzip the mouth and voila! You can sip a cocktail (with a straw you bought from home).
“From the beginning of the reopening process, I have said that reopening comes with the risk of seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases beyond our health systems’ capacity to test, trace, and isolate them,” Brown stated. “Over the last month, we have seen the disease spread at an alarming rate in both urban and rural counties. The upcoming July 4th holiday weekend is a critical point for Oregon in this pandemic, and we can all make a difference."

Nicole Vulcan

Nicole Vulcan has been editor of the Source since 2016. You can mostly find her raising chickens, walking dogs, riding all the bikes and attempting to turn a high desert scrap of land into a permaculture oasis.
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