President Donald Trump announced a new US federal guidance during a recent White House press briefing. He said that to reduce COVID-19 transmission from those who may be unaware they have the disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends everyone in the United States wear cloth face masks in public settings such as grocery stores and pharmacies.
The latest mask recommendation was influenced by a mounting body of scientific evidence. It suggests COIVID-19 can be spread by people who are infected but have yet to develop symptoms (pre-symptomatic cases) or by people who are affected but show no symptoms (asymptomatic cases).
The new CDC guidance states:
In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.
The CDC director Robert Redfield explained in an interview with STATNews that:
The recommendation is not about extra protection for individuals from the virus, but instead about slowing community transmission from those unaware they have contracted the disease.
The CDC emphasizes the use of cloth masks – stating that surgical masks or N-95 respirator masks are to be reserved for first responders and healthcare workers.
Redfield explained:
It’s not a decision to try to protect me from getting coronavirus. It’s to help modify spreading. And there is scientific data to show that when you aerosolized virus through a cloth barrier, you have a reduction in the amount of virus that gets through the other side. Kind of a homemade, make-it-yourself barrier, whether it’s a bandana or a scarf.
Many experts are worried that if people wear masks, it’ll breed a false sense of security, causing them to relax general hygiene practices and social distancing measures. That is one of the reasons why there has been so much debate amongst experts on whether to recommend wearing masks or not. However, there has been increasing evidence of asymptomatic transmission, and mass population mask waring may reduce levels of community transmission.
At the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) most recent press briefing, the Chief Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, Michael Ryan, spoke about this issue. He said:
We must preserve medical, surgical and respirator masks for our front-line workers but the idea of using respiratory coverings or mouth coverings to prevent coughing and sneezing projecting disease into the environment or towards others; that’s a mechanical process and that in itself is not a bad idea but that doesn’t negate the need for hand-washing, it doesn’t negate the need for physical distancing, it doesn’t negate the need for people to stay at home if there’s a stay-at-home order in place.
We all want this coronavirus pandemic to be over with as fast as possible. It’s not mandatory to wear a cloth mask when you have to go out, but it’s so easy. Maybe it doesn’t do anything at all, or perhaps it helps a lot – but it inevitably won’t cause any harm, so let’s all be good sports and do whatever we can to stop the spread of COVID-19.
