A cloth face mask helps contain droplets from the wearer being spread to others and the Centers for Disease Control is recommending people wear masks in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Respiratory droplets created when people cough, sneeze, talk, shout, and sing can carry the virus from one person to another. The droplets are then inhaled into the lungs of people nearby. The CDC states people can spread the virus before they show COVID-19 symptoms.

Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Marissa Reisen urges people to wear masks to prevent the spread of the virus, “It’s still out there and the best thing you can do to protect yourself and others is to wear a mask when you’re out in public. It is not a health risk to wear a mask. Your oxygen levels do not go down. It is not the government trying to wield control over you with masks. This is for your own health, safety, and protection, and of that of those surrounding you.”

Johnson County has seen an increase in cases recently, with nearly 200 new cases since Sunday. Reisen said she spoke with the Johnson County coordinator Tuesday evening about the increase in cases there, “Most of their, as you’ve heard, their cases are in younger populations. A lot of them have been staff at local restaurants. So, if you get all excited to go out to eat in Johnson County, just be warned that they are closing back down a lot of the restaurants because it is mostly a lot of staff that have come down with COVID.”

Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski stated that disease investigators are finding that the new cases in younger populations in Johnson County are people working in restaurants and some in long term care facilities; they aren’t tied to recent protests.