HARLINGEN — Dr. Christopher Romero hates wearing a mask.
But he’ll continue wearing one even though Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is lifting the mask mandate effective March 10.
“I’ve been wearing a mask since March of last year,” said Romero, medical director of PanAmerican Clinical Research in Brownsville.
“Because of wearing a medical N95 mask so much, I have a pressure injury on the bridge of my nose which is still kind of perpetually red,” he said. “But I will continue to wear my mask. I wear it not so much for my protection as for the protection of those in the community.”
Romero referred to recently published literature showing that 30 percent of COVID-19 patients are asymptomatic, meaning they don’t show any symptoms.
“We know that asymptomatic individuals do pose a risk for spreading the virus,” he said. “There are a lot of people in our community that are at risk for having severe cases of COVID and having bad outcomes. I want to do everything I can to protect this community that I love and serve, and part of that is wearing a mask.”
He said he will continue to wear a mask until enough people in this community have been vaccinated and the pandemic is under control.
The decision to wear a mask or not wear a mask is a difficult one, said Dr. Ameer Hassan, head of the neuroscience department at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen.
“It’s a fine balance,” he said. “But from the governor’s standpoint he is overall thinking about the state and jobs and people. So it’s a tough decision. I don’t think there’s a straight answer. I am concerned about small businesses that have really suffered under everything going on with COVID.”
He recommended again that people continue safety precautions for a while longer.
“Everybody can still do the social distance,” Hassan said. “Wear your face masks and just give it a few more weeks before you really start taking off your masks and doing everything back to normal. I would just wait until everybody in the country is vaccinated which Biden is saying now is going to be May.”
Various organizations and businesses are deciding to respond.
The Harlingen school district released a statement Wednesday that it would continue to enforce mask wearing in all its facilities until further notice.
An employee at Planet Fitness said a decision would be made today whether to continue mask wearing.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Harlingen will continue to enforce mask wearing in its facilities.
“Our policy is the same as it has been,” said Gerald Gathright, executive director.
“The masks are required for all those entering the Boys and Girls Clubs for all activities,” Gathright said. “We’re going to continue that until we feel 100 percent confident that it’s OK to change. Our board of directors will ultimately make that decision.”
