Myron Cohen, MD, acknowledges that masks make an “incredible difference,” in a News and Observer article that recognizes student and faculty concerns over the return to campus during the coronavirus pandemic.
As reported hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in North Carolina continue to climb, the article reports more than 650 faculty members, graduate teaching fellows and teaching assistants sent a petition to administrators making three requests, that “demands, no instructor will be required to teach in person or disclose personal health concerns. All members of the UNC-CH community will be required to wear masks and practice physical distancing in classrooms and public settings. All UNC-CH students, faculty and staff on campus will be tested for COVID-19 during the first weeks of classes, plus a plan for regular and ongoing testing.”
In the article, Cohen said “there should be no mixed message that masks work,” in terms of the probability of getting COVID-19 or infecting someone else.
Cohen is associate vice chancellor for global health and medical affairs, the Yeargan-Bate Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and Epidemiology, and director of the Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases.
Read the article here.