I have read several letters objecting to the wearing of face masks. Masks can be uncomfortable and may impair your breathing a little. They may make it harder to work. But the face mask may be the best tool we currently have to fight the COVID-19 virus.

Science says the coronavirus is spread in tiny droplets coming from our mouth when we talk, sing, cough or sneeze. To confirm that there really are such droplets, you could go out in extremely cold weather, open your mouth, and blow. You would actually see your own breath, because those tiny droplets would become a small cloud of tiny “snowflakes.”

Tiny droplets are carried by air currents, so if we sneeze or cough, they are carried with our breath. Masks may stop most of the droplets. But masks also slow our breath air currents, thus slowing the remaining droplets. Data shows that in places like Germany, where masks are used, the deaths have essentially stopped. Meanwhile, Americans continue to die. If we wear our masks, we protect our own health and, at the same time, we protect the health of others.