Union and Northumberland Counties are currently slated to stay in Yellow Phase for now, owing to somewhat higher coronavirus case counts in the past two weeks. Snyder County and many others to the north and west of Union are "going green" though. So now everyone is looking at what this new designation means. On the one hand, there will be fewer restrictions both on business and personal activity. On the other hand, it is not a return to normal. That has some people confused, but the simplest way to think about it is to realize that the Red, Yellow, and Green Phases are all within the current public health emergency declaration. Normal would be once the public health emergency is over. We'd all like that to be what we're looking at here (and around the world), but wishing does not make it so!

In a recent Daily Item article entitled "Leader urges Snyder County to stay vigilant during green phase reopening," Commissioner Joe Kantz is quoted as saying, "you've got to be diligent… We've got good numbers but we want to continue to see good numbers. Even as people start to gather at restaurants and family get togethers and cookouts, you got to pay attention; you got to wash your hands; you got to do all those famous CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines."

Left unsaid in that particular article was what those guidelines are, but -- lo and behold -- they include the wearing of masks in addition to good hygiene and physical distancing. Admittedly, masks are not a legally binding requirement for the general public in PA -- at least not until you go into a business establishment at which point the business is mandated to require them of everyone but those too young or infirm to do so -- but wearing them when in public in general remains the right thing to do.

So be smart, be responsible, be kind -- wear a mask! It's not a reflection on your bravery; it is a reflection of your concern for others.

MASK FAQS

What if I can't wear a mask? As you can see from the image excerpted from the CDC website shown above, there are exceptions as to who should wear masks. Ideally everyone, but there is a recognition that some are too young, have too little control of their faculties, or suffer from health issues that make breathing difficult to do so. But if we can get those who are able willingly wearing masks, even without comprehensive testing and contact tracing available, we can still minimize disease transmission.

Won't I suffocate wearing a mask, especially in hot weather? No. If masks were that dangerous for your health, surgeons and other medical staff would not be wearing them. There are some exceptions noted above, but the vast majority of people should be able to manage to wear a mask. After all, we do ok with "no shirt no shoes no service." Just add mask to that list.

What happened to being told we shouldn't wear masks? We have gotten a lot more information since the surgeon general suggested we all not wear masks and save them for our frontline healthcare workers in late March. He himself recorded PSAs demonstrating how to make your own mask at home just one week later. The specific things that changed were 1) understanding that the virus was transmitted in airborne droplets and 2) discovering that people were contagious without showing symptoms, whether before developing them or simply having such a light case they never noticed they were ill.

Aren't they saying masks don't protect you anyway? It's true that a homemade mask will not be particularly effective in protecting the wearer from others, but if the other people you encounter are wearing masks, their masks will help to significantly reduce your exposure. This can be hard to understand, so it's worth thinking it through. The masks are not very good at filtering out virus particles, but they are good at slowing down the air the wearer exhales, whether in the course of breathing, speaking, sneezing, or singing. When the air moves more slowly, any virus particles being shed don't go as far.

Why can't we just make anyone who is sick wear a mask and be done with it? Because people are contagious before they start showing symptoms and, even more confusing, some people never show symptoms at all, but they are still contagious. So we don't know who's sick at any given time. Therefore putting everyone in masks means those who are sick will also be wearing them. Someone with a mild case does not necessarily give other people mild cases. A person with a mild case is just as capable of spreading the virus to others who will have much more serious cases.

What use is a leaky mask anyway? It slows down the air you breathe out, which means any virus particles along for the ride simply can't travel as far.

I'm not afraid of getting sick. Why can't I skip the mask? Because you are not courting disease for yourself, but rather potentially offering it up to other people. Telling them they should just wear a mask doesn't make sense unless you have some extensive source of N95 masks (still in short supply for healthcare workers) to give them that could protect them from you. Telling them they should just stay home doesn't make sense if they need to work in a public facing capacity. You are showing not your own lack of fear, but rather your lack of consideration for others.

They keep saying we're all going to get it anyway. Why can't we all just get it over with? We know certain people will fare worse than others. People in the vulnerable categories fall into four basic groups as outlined on this page from the UK's National Health Service:

• Those over 70
• Those under 70 with underlying health conditions
• Pregnant people
• People with complex health problems

When you start looking at this list in detail and you think about the number of people who are older or pregnant or obese or smokers or have diabetes or hypertension or are immune-suppressed PLUS the number of additional people who may not fall into any of these categories, but may have someone meeting the description in their household, having people going around being brave enough not to care who they infect starts to sound like not such a good idea.

What if I really really really hate masks? Time to be man enough to wear a mask... While a lot of people are putting their best face forward as it were, it's pretty safe to say that the number of people who like wearing them is vanishingly small. We need both the direct effect of your wearing masks and the indirect effect of your modeling the wearing of masks to make it possible also on the part of the most reluctant among us, whether they happen to be 4 years old or just really cool.