Wearing a mask these days is necessary, especially when we go out to get food or buy groceries. We’ve been wearing masks ever since this pandemic started. People think it’s a struggle but they have no choice but to follow the authorities because it’s for their own safety. Covering our nose and mouth is important because these parts of our body are the main passageways of the virus.

Last Wednesday, during the Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said that wearing a face-covering might provide better protection against Covid-19. He holds a face mask and calls it “the most important powerful public health tool we have.” Dr. Robert Redfield also encourages Americans to embrace these face-coverings because it is our best defense. “I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine because the immunogenicity may be 70% and if I don’t get an immune response, the vaccine is not going to protect me. This face mask will,” Redfield explained.

I interviewed two students about what they think on this news.

“It is very crucial that we wear our face masks religiously in order to prevent the spread of the virus,” junior Bryce Conception said.

I asked him whether masks are more effective than a vaccine and he says, “I do agree, better protection is more needed than a vaccine. Unlike a vaccine, unless proven to be effective, that will be the only time that it will do its job. Face masks, however, do its job in protecting people as long as it is worn properly.”

Another junior, Juan Paolo Obien said, “Face masks are essential to gain a higher form of protection in our present situation. After all, achieving good health is our priority.”

I also asked the same question I asked Conception. “Having a vaccine is more important because it will provide the human body a long term resistance to the virus. With COVID-19’s intensity, we need to focus on solutions that will continue to be effective in the long run,” Obien added.

With that, let us continue to wear face-coverings for our safety.