Science shows that face masks work both to protect the user and to protect others from the coronavirus, and everyone should wear one when they are around other people in public, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Even cloth face masks help enough to make it worthwhile, three senior CDC officials said in a comment published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“While community use of facial coatings has increased substantially, particularly in jurisdictions with mandatory orders, resistance continues,” said CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC Medical Director Dr. John Brooks, and Deputy Director of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Jay. Butler said in a joint editorial.
There is “ample evidence” that people who do not have symptoms and may not realize they are infected may be driving the continued increase in infections, they wrote.
Redfield has increasingly voiced support for the use of face masks, and the CDC released details Tuesday of a study that found that two hairdressers in Springfield, Missouri, who were infected with coronaviruses did not infect any of the 139 clients with whom they they worked, probably because they were wearing masks.
“Covering your mouth and nose with filtering materials has two purposes: personal protection against inhaling pathogens and harmful particles, and controlling the source to avoid exposing others to infectious microbes that can be expelled during respiration,” they wrote. the three officials.
Even homemade cloth masks help. “Cloth face coatings can substantially limit the forward dispersion of exhaled breaths containing potentially infectious respiratory particles in the 1 to 10 nanometer range that includes aerosol-sized particles, and recent research on textile performance for the home when used as a source control a fabric face suggests coatings can do so with acceptable efficiency and breathability, ”they wrote.
“However, you don’t have to cover your face all the time. It is probably safe for people and safe for others to drive alone or to walk or jog alone on a crowded road without covering your face, ”they advised.
“But when people choose to go out or need to be around other people in public, a cloth face covering can help reduce the spread of COVID-19 from asymptomatic or other people.”
Health experts need to spread the message, the CDC said. “Innovation is needed to extend your physical comfort and ease of use,” they added.
“At this critical juncture when COVID-19 is making a comeback, the widespread adoption of fabric coverings is a civic duty, a small sacrifice that depends on a highly effective low-tech solution that can help turn the tide favorably in national efforts and global against COVID- 19. “
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