Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested that people wear glasses or masks as an additional measure of protection against coronavirus contraction, according to a report.
“If you have glasses or an eye protector, you should wear it,” Fauci, 79, the leading infectious disease expert in the US, told Dr. Jennifer Ashton, chief medical correspondent for ABC News, on Wednesday.
When asked if eye protection will ever become a formal recommendation, he said, “It could, if you really want perfect protection of mucosal surfaces.”
Fauci, a member of the White House pandemic working group and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, explained the justification for the measure.
“You have mucosa in your nose, mucosa in your mouth, but you also have mucosa in your eye,” he said. Theoretically, you should protect all mucous surfaces. So if you have glasses or an eye protector, you should wear it. ”
He added that while glasses and eye / face shields “are not universally recommended” at this time, “if you really want to be complete, you should probably wear it if you can.”
Fauci also addressed when people should be tested if they think they have been exposed to the insect, as there are no official guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the National Institutes of Health about it.
“That question came up at the task force meeting yesterday and we asked the same thing and said there is no real recommendation,” Fauci said on ABC News.
“I think five [days] it’s good. It might even go a day or so earlier because the incubation period of when you have symptoms is about five days, “he said, adding that the window is” no earlier than three [days] or before five or six.
Fauci also said he hopes wearing masks will also help limit the spread of the flu in the fall.
“It is inevitable that we have a certain degree of flu,” he said. “I hope that wearing masks and other coverage will not only protect us against COVID-19, but also help protect us against influenza.”
Meanwhile, the doctor also spoke about the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, and said in an interview on MSNBC that all of the “valid” scientific data shows that the drug is not effective in treating COVID-19.
“You look at the scientific data and the evidence. And the scientific data … on trials that are valid, that were randomized and controlled appropriately, all of those trials consistently show that hydroxychloroquine is not effective in treating coronavirus or COVID-19 disease, “he said.
His comments came a day after President Trump renewed his pressure for coronavirus patients to take the controversial drug.
The president spoke at length during a White House press conference about the drug, including his experience taking it for two weeks as a COVID-19 prophylactic.
“Many doctors think it is extremely good and some people don’t … I think I believe in it. I would take it. As you know, I took it for a period of 14 days and I’m here, right? I’m here, “he said.
On Monday night, Trump retweeted some messages of support for the use of the drug.
“It is safe. It does not cause problems. I had no problem I had absolutely no problem: I did not feel different, I did not feel good, bad or indifferent,” Trump said Tuesday. “He didn’t catch me and he’s not going to hurt anyone.”
The president said Tuesday that he was unaware of Fauci’s views on hydroxychloroquine and that he has a “good relationship” with the doctor, despite an overnight forwarding of a message, which was later removed, criticizing the disease expert. infectious.
During Tuesday’s press conference, a journalist asked Trump about a video he shared on Twitter saying that hydroxychloroquine is “a cure for COVID” and “doesn’t need a mask” to delay the spread of the coronavirus.
The clip was subsequently labeled as containing misleading information and has since been removed.
“I was not making claims,” Trump said of his tweet, noting that he was relaying the recommendations of other people, including doctors.
“Many doctors think that it is extremely successful, hydroxychloroquine along with zinc and perhaps azithromycin,” he said. “Many doctors think it is extremely good, and some people don’t.”
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