Gov. Brian Kemp is trying to walk a fine line: encouraging Georgians to wear a mask without requiring them to. His basis is respect for your judgment, but his detractors have a suitcase full of examples to indicate that respect is misplaced.

Coronavirus cases have exploded in Georgia since mid-June. A graphic on the Department of Public Health’s website shows a steep climb in new cases over the last month. Another graphic from the same source, though, shows that deaths per day have declined since about April 20.

The website includes information on hospitalizations, but it doesn’t track them over time. That’s important information because a goal from the beginning of the pandemic has been to avoid overwhelming our health facilities. The site says there are 14,346 people hospitalized with COVID-19, but it doesn’t say how many total beds are available or how many beds are taken by people with other conditions.

Because of all that, many people have called for a mask mandate. Studies have indicated that masks make it harder for the virus to move from one person to another.

Every time you speak, cough, sneeze or even breathe, you expel water droplets. If a person is infected with a respiratory virus — coronavirus, the flu or the common cold — some of the virus is contained in those droplets. Things that make your breath go out farther — sneezing especially, but also yelling or singing — make the droplets go farther too. That’s the reason for social distancing recommendations.

Masks block many of the droplets. 

This is a particularly important issue because, unlike most illnesses we’re familiar with, COVID-19 can be transmitted before symptoms appear. To slow the spread of the disease, we have to get people to wear masks when they don’t think they’re sick.

Some local leaders in places that are hard-hit by the virus believe the best way to do that is to require everyone to cover their faces. In Georgia, some cities have instituted such mandates, only to have the governor shoot them down, up to and including suing the City of Atlanta to prevent enforcement of that city’s mask rule.

It isn’t that Kemp thinks you shouldn’t wear a mask — he flew all over the state a week ago telling everyone they should. Instead, it’s his way of saying you have the right to make your own intelligent decision.

Among the principles America was founded on was that of “enlightened self-interest” — the belief among our founders that individuals who know what’s going on will do what’s best for themselves, and everyone doing what’s best for themselves adds up to what’s best for the whole country.

Way back in March, before Kemp issued his first state of emergency declaration, the City of Moultrie put one into effect to limit the size of gatherings. At that time, Mayor Bill McIntosh said, “This is going to take every individual thinking as their brother’s keeper.” He wasn’t talking about masks then, but the sentiment is spot-on for our current debate.

Like many of the other strategies we’ve used against the coronavirus, masks will not defeat the disease. But they will buy us more time to find the treatments and the vaccines that will make it less deadly and less disruptive.

If we fail to slow things enough, if our hospitals are overwhelmed the way New York’s were earlier in the pandemic, we could be looking at another business lock-down or stay-at-home order to regain control of the virus. Choosing to wear a mask now could save us a lot of pain later.