Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

“Question — if me NOT wearing a cloth mask can transmit the virus to someone who IS wearing a cloth mask, what does that say about the effectiveness of cloth masks in filtering the virus?” This was a post Rep. Peggy Bennett made on her personal page on July 24. 

Our local health officials have explained why it’s important for everyone to wear masks. On June 12, Dr. Ciota, county Public Health Director Sue Yost and others stated in this newspaper, “Wear a mask in public: I wear a mask to protect you. You wear a mask to protect me.”

Rep. Bennett is undermining our medical and public health experts’ messaging, which is irresponsible and harmful. Rep. Bennett will always be remembered as a beloved first-grade teacher, but the sad irony is that she is now miseducating her constituents in a way that is potentially dangerous to their health and even their lives. This is a failure of leadership.

A statewide mask mandate has now gone into effect. I hope a trusted medical professional from Mayo Clinic Health System can reach out to Rep. Bennett and personally explain why wearing masks helps slow the spread of COVID-19 so that Bennett will cease being a mask misinformation super spreader.

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

Albert Lea