We enter the coronavirus masked face era

It has taken all this time for governments to realise - and for the World Health Organisation - that wearing masks does actually make a difference in the fight to stop the spread of coronavirus. In previous months it has been dismissed as scientifically unproven. Donald Trump was so anti-masks he never wore one in public. Until now. For the first time the president was seen with a dark blue mask over his face while visiting the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington. Mind you, not wearing a mask in this hospital which has saved so many lives of near-mortally wounded combat veterans, would have been an outrage. But Trump masked tells us a helluva lot. This coming week Boris Johnson is expected to announce that everyone must wear masks in shops. Why has it taken so long? It seems to me to be an obvious precaution. The scientific advice that masks did nothing to prevent the passing or receiving of the virus always seemed contrary. But as virus surges are popping up all over the place the mask edict in the UK, and surely soon in the US and elsewhere where there are upticks in the pandemic, is going to change the landscape. Now we will all look like frightened souls hiding our faces from view. It's sad but inevitable and wise. Trump hopefully will continue to wear a mask wherever he appears in public but I fear he will remain sceptical and he won't like the newspapers and television channels constantly showing him covered up. The trouble is that the one man who is supposed to be in a position to advise the presidentb that for the sake of his health and the health of others he really should always get out his mask is totally out of favour. Dr Anthony Fauci, America's expert in infectious diseases, has been too outspoken about the continuing dangers of Covid-19, in Trump's mind, and the two haven't spoken for a month. For the rest of us, however, we are now entering the masked era.