Do you need a mask? The science hasn't changed, but public guidance might
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
As coronavirus cases continue to rise , a growing number of Americans are opting to cover their noses and mouths with makeshift masks, including bandannas, scarves or other wraps, when venturing into public.
While the science behind whether masks can prevent a person from catching the coronavirus hasn't changed (a mask does not help a healthy person avoid infection), public guidance may be shifting.
On Tuesday, President Trump said Americans could use scarves as makeshift protective masks.
Officially, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that wearing a mask is unnecessary for healthy individuals, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said federal health officials are actively discussing changing that guidance.
"Given the fact that there is a degree of transmission from asymptomatic individuals who may not know that they’re infected, we need to at least examine the possibility, as long as we’re absolutely certain we don’t take the masks away from who are health care providers who need them," Fauci said in an interview with NBC News' Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday night.
"It doesn’t need to be a classical mask. But something that would have someone prevent them from infecting others," Fauci added. "This is actively being looked at."
The potential change, which remains under discussion internally at the CDC according to an official, would involve do-it-yourself types of fabric coverings for the face, not the kinds of masks used by health care providers. The theory is that the homemade masks would help reduce the risk of unknowingly spreading the virus through coughs, sneezes, even yawns or simple conversation.
The coronavirus is spread predominantly through large respiratory droplets, which are thought to travel about six feet through the air.
There is no scientific evidence that wearing face coverings would have a measurable impact on flattening the coronavirus curve. And whether it would have any impact at all is still up for debate.
Potential for benefit
On the one hand, experts say people who cover their faces may be more likely to follow other health guidance, such as proper hand washing, social distancing and disinfecting surfaces.
What's more, a mask "is a visible, physical memory and behavioral aid to not touch your eyes, nose and mouth without sanitizing or washing your hands," Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and the director of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minnesota, said.
And giving the general public something tangible to do could be empowering during a pandemic with many unknowns and uncertainties.
Potential for risk
But some experts say a mask may give the user a false sense of security. And the eyes — an important pathway for the virus to infect a person — remain exposed even though the mouth and nose are covered.
Surgeon General Jerome Adams has been outspoken against healthy people wearing masks or other coverings in public.
"You can use a scarf. A lot of people have scarves," Trump told reporters during a news conference at the White House. "There is certainly no harm to it. I would say do it rather than going out to get a mask."
" @WHO @CDCgov and my office have consistently recommended against the general public wearing masks as there is scant or conflicting evidence they benefit individual wearers in a meaningful way," Adams wrote on Twitter.
Facial coverings must also be changed and washed often. And if a mask gets wet, even from the moisture emitted when a person exhales, the fabric could be more likely to transmit the virus.
"Once the mask becomes moist, you don't want to touch your face or the mask because you have to assume it's contaminated," Poland said. Handmade masks can be laundered appropriately in regular home washing machines, he added.
Perhaps the biggest concern for changing facial covering guidelines is that the public might stock up on masks meant for people who are sick and health care workers. Adams previously tweeted about this, too, writing, "seriously people — STOP BUYING MASKS! If health care providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk."
To be clear, the guidelines would not apply to surgical or N95 masks, which are in short supply in the U.S., and should be reserved for "people on the front lines, the doctors and nurses and transporters who are there to save our lives," Dr. Thomas Frieden, former head of the CDC, told MSNBC on Tuesday.
Indeed, some health care providers say they've had to resort to rationing the few medical masks they do have.
The federal coronavirus task force will reportedly discuss changing public recommendations for facial coverings late Tuesday.
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Even the proper masks might not be too effective to prevent a wearer to get the virus, but it is more effective to prevent a user from spreading the virus. It also has a psychological effect in making other people more comfortable knowing that it would not be easy to catch the virus from the persons wearing a mask.
In China they were effective because EVERYONE wore them, whereas I have watched news broadcasts of young people in America mocking the wearing of them and refusing to follow the social distance guidelines. It's no wonder the numbers of infected in the USA are so astronomical. In China, during the epidemic,, the scene outside was from a dystopian movie - not a soul on the streets and everything closed except for supermarkets and pharmacies, and you had to go through a fever test to enter them.
That's why China is now in recovery mode, and other than the schools, things are getting back to normal.
I just saw that Trump suggests people start using scarfs if they don't have a face mask. Now that the toilet paper shelves are empty, the next run will probably be scarfs.
scuba diving equipment.
LOL. Yes, according to me, because I happen to be here and see what is happening with my own eyes, and don't need to read misinformation to know it.
Buzz, you're on a 'tear'! (Smile.)
Better than nothing is not a standard. I saw the press where Trump delivered that comment. It concerns me that our president imparts to his public the least serviceable way of protecting themselves from a world-class microbe is wearing a substandard bit of cloth! Yes, it is relatively better than nothing, nevertheless.
Just saying. BTW, I am inclined to wear my mask outside the house, and have a long scarve around my neck in and outside the house as covering and backup, respectively.
Please understand that only an N95 mask is really going to protect the wearer from the virus, and that is only if it is properly fitted and even then they are not 100% full proof. What the government is looking at changing is allowing everyday people to wear what is basically a surgical mask. It is NOT to protect the person from catching the virus, it is to reduce the droplet spray and shorten the distance droplets could travel with sneeze or cough. It's to help protect others. But again, it does not protect the wearer at all.
And my concern about this change remains the same. There are too many people who will think because they are wearing a mask that they are safe from catching the virus and will neglect all the other social distancing actions they should be following.
I have what I need-you're just have to trust me on that one. Though, maybe overused. The public needs the proper masks, too. If it requires we all get 'enlisted' to make enough-more, then so be it. Issue the order! And, I agree with your comment!
Oh yeah, but scarfs and masks cut out of T-shirts are a much better idea. LOL
Of course if you don't have enough masks, it's okay to steal them.
Rignt on, Snuffy. When everyone is wearing a mask there is a psychological effect in that one can feel safer knowing that they and others wearing them will not be so likely to SPREAD the virus.
Well, I just think that finger-pointing and blame aren't going to be beneficial, at a time when all nations and all the people in them should cooperate to defeat this scourge.
Oh, come on, XD. I have posted at least 5 times on this site that I live in Chongqing, which is 540 miles from Wuhan, the EPICENTRE of the virus which has effected ALL of China. Chongqing, which is a city-state, has a population of 32 million (almost the same population as all of Canada). Chongqing experienced 578 cases of which 6 died (a mortality rate of about 1%) and of which as of last week only 2 remained in hospital, the rest having recovered, and there have been NO new cases for more than two weeks. Stores and restaurants are reopening and people are out and about, but EVERYONE until very recently has been wearing masks, and during the time when things were bad you could not see anyone out unless they had to go out to buy food or medicines (the only places that were open, and you had to undergo a fever test to enter them). The schools/universities are still closed. Because everyone took the guidelines seriously we have experienced recovery here. And yes, I was speaking of what is local and what I have seen with my own eyes and what I was told by my doctor friend who works in the local medical-university connected hospital, the doctor who took me to the last two expat Thanksgiving dinners (although he is Chinese he can speak English and is friends with the person who runs it), the doctor whose daughter I was teaching English to (until this virus happened) an hour a week, the doctor who worked on the front lines fighting this epidemic, the doctor who gave my wife and me a supply of N95 surgical masks - yes, XD, I trust him and what he tells me. You can believe all the shit you want, but don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about or that I just swallow propaganda.
I can not remark on the lack of astuteness in people (others). It is possible to wear the appropriate mask for protection against the Coronavirus and socially distance oneself. Hey! When we put our respective masks on in public we mimic those in a hospital setting to a mild degree.
I make the aforementioned statement with any intent to diminish medical professionals. I have the upmost respect for those who train and work in the life-saving field of medicine.
Perhaps you (and your wife) can indulge me @8 below?
I really don't care if you're sad, because I DO believe what I post. I may not believe everything I hear, or read, but I believe what I see, and I may not believe everything the government here says and prints, but I know that I'm safe, comfortable and happy where I am and I'm NOT a "commie" so I don't give a damn. I can see the warts, but I can see them where you are as well. As Joe E. Brown said at the end of Some Like it Hot, "Nobody's perfect."
I'm all for "Reprogramming ones SELF" of an unconscious behavior right now (Itching/Touching/Rubbing/Picking of ones Face), if it helps !
What the heck, Wear ….. something.... whatever does the job for you !
I wear long sleeve T-shirts most times now. First time I've gone against the grain and thought wiping my nose on my sleeve was a good thing.
Time to break out my p100 mask and my eye protection. They're not just for home maintenance any more!
I think Dr. Brix covered it very will in this afternoons briefing. While it's still being discussed within the task force community, any recommendation about a mask will be in addition to the existing guidelines and not in place of them. I believe that many people are too dumb to know what they are doing and the concern that they may feel by wearing a mask they are now invulnerable to catching the virus. Just like the people who put on a pair of gloves before the head out for the day, stop off to gas up their car, go to the grocery store and maybe even stop by their favorite restaurant on the way home to pick up supper. And not take that pair of gloves off until they get home. And all they have managed to do is cross-contaminate every place they have been to because the average person doesn't now much about medicine. IMO I would suggest that the recommendations not change to allow masks. We have too many people who are still out and about and if we allow them to go out with masks how many more people will be out and about and helping to further spread this virus.
What I do not see coming from the administration or even cable news 24/7 coverage is proper ways to disinfect the disposable masks and scarves we are wearing already (while they dither thereabouts). How about some usable information:
And these such questions which desperately need answers.
Lastly, if doctors and nurses and hospital workers need masks and the government won't act to get them for those workers, the workers should threaten a STOP WORK ORDER. They won't have to follow through on it, because the government would instantly realize there is no substitute for these brave workers. It will then get off its broad, fat ass and bring all activities to bear to give health workers WHATEVER they need to do their jobs safely—because no fat, old, Washington politician is going to take care of nobody sick and dying.
Stop pitting the health workers' safety of this countries against the public it serves! The public is the 'pool.' If we get sick because we do not have the best protection; then we complete the circle by getting sick and ending up in the hospital beds needs health workers to take care of us!
I understand you want to blame Washington, but the issue goes much deeper than that. Hospitals and medical centers have worked for years on building a supply chain based on usage at their normal rates. Now along comes this pandemic where the medical centers are burning thru supplies at 400, 500 even 600 times the normal rates. The supply chains are not set up to handle that type of load and cannot immediately spool up to deliver any type of supply in the volume needed. Not to mention that how many of these factories are physically located in different countries and with this pandemic in almost every country in the world they are all working to manage the supply chain in their own countries first.
So the front-line units (hospitals and medical centers) did not have sufficient stock on hand for a pandemic. The next line of defense in that would be at the state level as the state manages the medical systems within their states. Finally the federal government would be inline to back up the state. So if you want to throw around blame there are a lot of areas that share responsibility and it's only fair to recognize all those areas. But is it really, while we are still ramping up in the pandemic and the response to the pandemic, the right time to be pointing fingers or would we all be better served if we could put that aside and concentrate on resolutions to the problems currently facing us?
Snuffy:
The Federal Government, and that includes both sides of Congress. I submit that the political partisianship has been the bigger issue at preventing the government from acting as they should. And this problem is not new to Washington, it's been going on for almost as long as this country has been around. Hell, look at what the opposition party did to Truman to help lower his approval ratings.
How many intelligence committee's are there? Yes, both the President and the vice-President have their intelligence briefings but so does Congress.
I will submit that there were many people and groups who sought to minimize the issue. I'm hoping they did that to prevent panic. But it wasn't just the President who did that. NYC Mayor pushed to keep people going out to eat, use the subway and continue their normal lives until he finally called for a state of emergency on March 15th, talked about a lock-down but the shelter-in-place didn't start until March 23rd when ordered by Governor Cuomo. IMO part of the problem was the data and information being handed out by the CDC which impacted a lot of countries.
I guess that depends on what you consider acting thoroughly and comprehensively. I think that the federal government is doing ok at this point. There are a lot of moving pieces that are happening but listening to the briefings it seems that they do have a handle on things and progress is being made. Will it get worse before it gets better, yes. How bad still waits to be seen.
At the same time it does appear to me that the Democrats in Congress are more interested in political advantage than working with the administration to help find solutions. The stories that come out from the Senate negotiations for the recent relief act, early reports of bipartisan agreements until Pelosi comes in to put a stop to it. Then her reworking it to include money for pieces that really have nothing to do with the corona virus or the people of the US.
Congress, because they control all the purse strings.
Considering the political partisianship right now there is no good answer to this question. Had the federal government issued a shelter-in-place order for the entire country back on Feb 1 how much time and money would have been wasted in federal court while several states took the government to task for "over-reaching their authority". In reality the federal government is in a no-win situation because no matter what they did or have done someone will be upset with them.
True, in a big picture way. I ask you the following: What single official of the federal system of governance in the United States is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces?
As to the rest of that I am not interested in dodgy and skirting the context meanings.
No, I do not think that everybody wearing a mask is an excuse to abuse oneself of going out into the public more than for essential services.
I think we should have been wearing them all along. When this first started I almost bought some. Wish I would have.
Even with stay at home orders people are going to have to go out, be it for groceries or what ever.
What pissed me off was the government saying they wouldn't help. That was an outright lie.
This administration cannot tell the truth. They should have just said they need what is available for the workers on the front line.
I started consistently wearing my mask (and procuring several for my family - it's hard) on the day the Surgeon General first mentioned words to the effect that 'If you have symptoms or test positive - wear a mask.' I did not have symptoms or test positive, but what I heard him say was this:
"You should wear a mask to protect yourself from others who have the virus (and don't know it)."
Incidentally, the Surgeon General make the remark the same day Governor Gavin Newsom declared a Stay At Home policy for California. I have been wearing masks everywhere since as I try my best to procure the stables of life under the virus. I am the 'go-fetch it' person in my home.
What pisses, present tense, me off is all the store workers out there in the prime of their lives, who were told they did not need masks for at least three weeks running-and all the 'mad-dashers' and frenzied shoppers they endured, so many infinite in-close conversations taking place all across this nation in essential businesses and now they are being told that the Coronavirus can possibly transit through exhalation and breathing. As well as coughing and sneezing and surfaces.
Trump is announcing on television right now, "CDC recommends public wear mask, when out in public."
One more thing on this. The CDC is recommending the public wear non-surgical mask when in public.
I get the reason why so please no one needs to beat me up over what I am about to say. The public has been one step behind where the CDC and the Administration are, and the CDC and Administration has been one-step (or more) behind where the virus seems to be.
We need n95 masks out here in the public- if, when, where, we can find them, if only to try our best to not add to the numbers coming to the hospitals. Thus, I say if you get an n95 mask or several use it smartly and more than once! Sterilize it the best you can.
Perhaps, the CDC and Administration will catch up with you and me, several weeks from now. It is time to make what we need for everybody who wants to live! Using substandard materials to try and save ourselves from the virus is what has some of us in 'foul' positions with it today!
I believe the n95 masks need to be reserved for the hospitals and medical personnel right now. There just are not enough of them to go around at this point and the need is much greater for them.
The use of non-surgical masks as recommended by the CDC is not to protect the individual wearing the mask, it is to try to help protect others. The use of surgical or cloth masks help shorten the distance droplets would travel with sneeze or cough. Even talking will force aerosol out the mouth which can form droplets. But they do not protect the person wearing the mask.
This is all an extension of the same social distancing that the CDC has been pushing. It's all to protect those around us and reduce the spread of the virus. The biggest problem with wearing a mask is that people can start to get sloppy, thinking that with the mask they are better protected. It's simply amazing how many times a person will touch their face even if they are trying to remember not to touch their face. And even an n95 mask does nothing to protect your contaminated finger from spreading the virus when you rub your eye.
The entire social distancing program is to reduce the spread by reducing the impact we can have on other people. That's what us normal public people need to do to help.
Both points of view can be correct in their moment. Moreover, non-surgical masks can work to keep what a person has closer to its originator, but you do note that the "non-surgies" do not protect the person wearing it from sick people's droplets-projections
I can see your point all the same, nevertheless. I encourage and support mask companies making millions of more coronavirus-grade masks for public health safety. After all, we, the public, are the pool of folks coming in and overwhelming the hospitals and medical personnel. Without us - no overwhelming numbers.
Here is something comical. The briefing room for press at the White House: the media is being told the CDC recommendations is to wear a mask in public, and this room is occupied by members of the press and White House officials, including President and Vice-president, and no people in the camera shots are wearing a mask of any kind. Including Dr. Deborah Birx!
LOL. Setting an example for good Americans to follow.
Is this a good way to clean masks including the N95 versions (I found it on Youtube.) Your thoughts, please?
Masks sold out? How to disinfect and reuse your masks during corona virus.
Where is everybody?!
I was going to say, the Rapture has happened, so sorry.
We did score eight rolls of cheap tp last weekend and I do mean two packs of four, and left the rest for other people.
I just bought some on etsy today. I haven't seen my sewing machine since before we moved and don't have material or skills. But they are selling fast. I sent one to my son in California and before I could order from that seller for us they were all sold, had to find something else. I have no idea how well they will work. I tried a bandanna and couldn't make anything work out. I guess they will do for now, better than nothing.
PLEASE HELP - HOME MADE N95 MASKS
This is an interesting video - even if one can make their own N-95's for personal safety. They won't look like the professional ones done as 3M. BUT:
Will they work? Your thoughts?
NOTE: Please read a few of the notes on the link for greater insights.
How about going to a store that sells Hallowe'en masks like this...
Cover the eye holes with saran wrap to protect your eyes (eyes are very vulnerable to the virus droplets in the air), and tape a couple layers of cloth you can still breathe through over the mouth-hole. That will give you full head protection. Also, wear disposable gloves, and touch nothing - hold a folded kleenex in your hand to push buttons, etc. On return to home, remove the mask, then wash your hands with gloves on with a proper disinfectant, then soap and water, then take the gloves off - you can now use them again.
Buzz, you know nobody in the news is talking about eye shields. What is wrong with the way we are getting life-saving information fed out to us in the States? It's inconsistent and lacking important and timely details. .
Right from the beginning we were advised to not touch or rub our eyes, and you might notice that the doctors treating patients are careful to have transparent shields in front of their eyes, or wear goggles, or at least glasses.
Correct. That is "treatment mode." We are the public in "amulate-mode." It was only a couple of days ago, that citizens of the U.S. were asked to place, to wear, anything at all over their mouths and noses! (I was doing it already, but that's just me.)
Wraparound glasses like these would be best to wear although I guess they would only be sunglasses.
I wear glasses too, and it is a given that they help us keep extraneous materials from our eyes (hits the lens). Although, that brings up a whole 'nother point about proper cleaning of dangerous microbes from the front of the lens! And, I take Buzz's point - something that over-compensates to protect the eyes is best.
So much to think, do, and be conscious of! Arrgh.
This virus is doing something unexpected, in my opinion. It is 'alerting' us all to how lapse our daily cleaning regimens of all kinds of things we use and do has become. We're just so trusting of our surrounding world that we thought we had a high percentage of this (whatever this is) figured out.
I am rediscovering handwashing! My (male) hands have been through a lot in their time and my cast-iron stomach and resolve just rolled with it. But not anymore. I got hand-washing with soap every time down 'pat,' no pun intended!
I have a "sudsy" type of eye glass cleaner spray. I guess each time I clean I will go over them two times for twenty seconds. Do your glasses handles too! The little boy in me says, "I'm getting it together!" (Smile.)
REMEMBER! Wash those eye glass cleaning rags often with a soapy mix!
There are clear safety glasses like that available. Maybe not now, but I've seen them at Walmart, and wear them at work myself.
One word: Moisturizer! (Smile.)
Surgeon General shows Americans how to make a face mask
I have really good masks. Still, this is quite interesting and darn fast!