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The Trump administration appeared to join local officials on Thursday in advising Americans to wear masks when venturing out during the still-exploding coronavirus pandemic, as the U.S. death toll rose by 1,000 in a single day for the first time.
Speaking at a White House briefing, Deborah Birx, member of President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been preparing to recommend that everyone wears face coverings in public settings, like pharmacies and grocery stores, to avoid unwittingly spreading the virus.
Birx, however, cautioned that Americans, who have been admonished to stay at home except for essential outings, should not develop a "false sense of security" that they are fully protected from the respiratory illness by wearing a mask. And other public health officials continued to stress that N95 masks and surgical masks should be saved for frontline doctors and nurses, who have been in dire need of protective gear.
For weeks, the administration has sent conflicting messages on masks. At first, officials clearly stated that masks should only be worn by sick people. For some time, Trump has been saying masks might be useful, but scarves would be fine as well. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks, especially N95 respirator masks, for health care workers when they are in continuously short supply.
But critics say if people continue to spread the virus unwittingly, the hospitalizations would keep surging, and there is no point to reserve protective gear for medics.
An N95 respirator mask. /Reuters
The tone began to change earlier this week after Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, said they were reviewing their guidelines on mask-wearing, citing there are high rates of transmission from people who are infected but show no symptoms.
However, the coming guidelines would be entirely voluntary. "If people want to wear them, they can," Trump said.
Mask wearing has been debated in many Western countries for weeks as death toll keeps surging and the public became suspicious about the face mask policy.
Israel, Austria, Czech, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina have ordered their citizens to wear face masks while in public as a precaution against the coronavirus. And some cities in Germany have also asked their residents to mask their noses and mouths when in public places.
In New York City, at the center of the outbreak in the U.S., Mayor Bill de Blasio has urged residents to wear face coverings. Due to the shortage of medical-grade protective gear, the Democratic mayor suggested New Yorkers use scarves or other home-made masks to protect everyone else.
(Cover image: A hospital worker distributes Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to people waiting in line to be tested for coronavirus disease in New York City, New York, April 2, 2020. /Reuters)
(REUTERS)
