The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said policymakers should consider the need to cover their faces to reduce the spread of the coronavirus after studying two Missouri stylists who had Covid-19 but did not pass it on to their clients, the agency said in a new study. published on Tuesday.
“With the potential for presymptomatic and asymptomatic transmission, widespread adoption of policies requiring facial covers in public settings to reduce the impact and magnitude of additional COVID-19 waves should be considered,” says the study published by the CDC.
Some governors, including California Governor Gavin Newsom and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, have issued requirements to wear face covers in public or in certain settings when people cannot practice social distancing. However, there is no national mandate from the United States as in China and other countries. Not all states in the US have issued masking mandates and some with growing outbreaks, including Florida, have left it in the hands of local cities and counties. That left US companies to enforce face coverage requirements on their own, as previously reported by CNBC.
In an interview with Dr. Howard Bauchner of The Journal of the American Medical Association later Tuesday, Redfield emphasized the importance of masks. He said the United States could control the coronavirus pandemic in one to two months if every American wore a mask.
“I think we are being very clear now,” Redfield said. “Now is the time to wear a mask.”
The CDC tracked down two infected stylists in Springfield, Missouri, who worked while they were contagious, but it appears they did not transmit the virus to any of their 139 clients. One of the stylists developed symptoms on May 12, the researchers said, and continued to work until May 20, when they received a positive Covid-19 test result. At that time, the infected person transmitted the virus to another stylist who also continued working until May 20, despite developing symptoms on May 15, the researchers wrote.
The two stylists worked on 139 clients over the eight-day period, the researchers wrote, but after follow-up testing and interviews, neither tested positive for Covid-19 or reported having respiratory symptoms. Investigators concluded that the city-wide ordinance, which limited the business to 25% of its capacity and required everyone in the room to wear masks to prevent the spread of the virus.
“A policy mandating the use of facial coatings likely contributed to preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during close contact interactions between stylists and clients in Salon A,” the researchers wrote. “A broader implementation of masking policies could mitigate the spread of infection in the general population.”
The two stylists always wore a “double-layer cotton facial covering” or surgical mask when interacting with clients, the researchers said. They added that customers reported that they wore a cloth face cover, surgical mask, or N95 respirator for all or part of the time they were in business.
The absence of transmission in the salon is based on the growing evidence showing the use of masks and facial covers, particularly in closed or crowded environments, which play an important role in the prevention of infections. The researchers cited observational data from 194 countries that showed that “countries that did not recommend facemasks and respirators” reported a greater increase in Covid-19 deaths per capita than in “those countries with masking policies.”
However, the researchers noted some limitations of their study of the Missouri hair salon. Not all clients agreed to be tested, and some may have been tested too early in the virus incubation period to obtain a positive test, despite the test being positive later, the researchers said.
Overall, 67 clients agreed to be tested and 72 declined, the researchers wrote, but of the total of 139 clients, 104 were interviewed by the Greene County Health Department about whether they had developed symptoms. Some 87 of the 104 reached said they did not develop symptoms, and of those who did report symptoms, none received the Covid-19 test.
That means that asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic people who might have been infected in the salon may not have been detected.
And the stylist may have infected the clients before they started showing symptoms, but the researchers did not collect data from clients who visited the salon before the first stylist developed symptoms. The researchers also noted that the nature of hair services, where the client confronts the stylist, may have reduced the risk of infection instead of the masks.
Despite these limitations, the researchers said the study supports the widespread use of masks and masks to reduce Covid-19 transmission. Facial coatings have become a political relief bar in the debate over the best way to control the pandemic, but scientists say there is evidence that they help contain the outbreak. They say it is especially important to prevent people from spreading the virus in the pre-symptomatic stage before symptoms start or they are asymptomatic and don’t know they are spreading it because they never develop symptoms.
“These results support the use of face covers in places open to the public, especially when social distancing is not possible, to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2,” they wrote.
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