But the new suggestion has led to some confusion because, for weeks, federal authorities insisted masks were not necessary. And while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with many California officials, suggest wearing them while shopping or being out in public, President Trump says he won’t be covering his face.
Experts say masks alone are not particularly effective in preventing infection. They don’t cover the eyes, for instance, and a bit of coughed saliva that sprays into the eye can cause an infection. Wearing a mask but still touching your face with unwashed, virus-contaminated hands can also lead to infection. People often find masks uncomfortable and touch them to make adjustments.
The Truth about Face Masks
It has been said that we are in a fight against a pandemic as well as a fight against misinformation. Misinformation may even be the bigger fight we face in a world of social media where anyone can easily have a platform and spread information that is not just false, it’s dangerous! One of the trending topics on social media through the COVID-19 fight is whether or not face mask protect you from the spread of a virus. Some articles even claim wearing a mask is more harmful to your health! In this article, we hope to separate fact from fiction and provide a few tips to help protect you and your family from the virus.
Can face masks help prevent the spread of the novel corona virus (COVID-19)? Most certainly, face masks in combination with other preventive measures such as social distancing, help slow the spread of viruses. You may wonder why then, were face masks not the recommendation at the start of the pandemic? At the time, experts didn’t yet know the extent to which COVID-19 could spread before symptoms appeared. Nor did we know that some affected persons are asymptomatic. This means that the virus spreads between people interacting in close proximity. For example, vapor droplets spread as individuals speak, cough, or sneeze near each other even if those people are not exhibiting symptoms.
Conclusion
While the supply of N95s and surgical masks is not great, cloth masks are more accessible, reusable, and easy to make out of a variety of materials. Cloth masks still help slow the spread of COVID-19. Cloth masks help protect others in case the wearer has the virus. An N95 mask, on the other hand, helps protect the wearer from getting the virus. However, if we all do our part, the transmission of the virus as a whole is less to all our friends and neighbors.
