By Jenny McGrath April 14, 2020
In early April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started recommending people wear face masks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, commonly known as the coronavirus. In order to save surgical masks and medical masks for health care workers, the CDC said the general public should use cloth face coverings made out of household items.
“That’s the most important thing to keep in mind — that the purpose of the mask is not to protect the wearer,” Dr. Dean Winslow, an infectious disease specialist at the Stanford University Medical Center, told Digital Trends. “It’s to protect others, in case [the wearer is] asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic but shedding the virus.” The masks are useful for places like the drugstore, where it may be difficult to stay six feet away from someone else.
Coughing, exhaling, and talking all release droplets into the air that can infect others. In other words, the mask isn’t protecting you from the world; it’s protecting the world from you. That’s why it’s important to wear one, even if you don’t have any symptoms. You can still spread the disease before you start coughing or if you’re infected but never get very sick. Winslow also wants to remind people that masks aren’t a substitute for more effective measures, like staying six feet away from others. “Shelter in place and social distancing are, in the big scheme of things, much, much more important than the wearing masks are, in my opinion,” he said. SOURCE: Digital Trends
“That’s the most important thing to keep in mind — that the purpose of the mask is not to protect the wearer,” Dr. Dean Winslow, an infectious disease specialist at the Stanford University Medical Center, told Digital Trends. “It’s to protect others, in case [the wearer is] asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic but shedding the virus.” The masks are useful for places like the drugstore, where it may be difficult to stay six feet away from someone else.
Coughing, exhaling, and talking all release droplets into the air that can infect others. In other words, the mask isn’t protecting you from the world; it’s protecting the world from you. That’s why it’s important to wear one, even if you don’t have any symptoms. You can still spread the disease before you start coughing or if you’re infected but never get very sick. Winslow also wants to remind people that masks aren’t a substitute for more effective measures, like staying six feet away from others. “Shelter in place and social distancing are, in the big scheme of things, much, much more important than the wearing masks are, in my opinion,” he said. SOURCE: Digital Trends
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