Protect yourself and your community by wearing a mask

Arthur:Kirk Wessler. This article was updated December 7, 2020, to reflect new information from the CDC.

            As the pandemic continues, scientists and medical professionals are learning more and more about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) every day. That explains why official recommendations and guidelines to keep you and your community safe continue to evolve.

            According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), wearing masks whenever you leave your home, maintaining physical distance and washing your hands are the best ways to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Wearing a mask also protects you, the wearer, from contracting the virus.

            Now, new guidance emphasized by the CDC on December 4, 2020, indicates face masks should be worn whenever you leave your home and, in addition, in your home if you are living with someone who has symptoms of COVID-19 or has been exposed to someone with the virus. Wearing a mask can reduce the amount of infectious droplets inhaled by the wearer.

            The protective benefits are also more effective if people wear masks any time they are around others and if they wear them correctly, according to the CDC.

Protect critical medical supplies

First, do NOT use surgical masks or N-95 respirators, both of which are critical supplies that must be reserved for exclusive use by health care workers and first responders.

Second, do not use cloth face coverings on children under 2 years old. Nor should such masks be used by people who have trouble breathing or who might struggle to remove the mask without help.

Mask use and maintenance

            COVID-19 can be spread by tiny droplets that get into the air when we cough, sneeze or even laugh or talk. Physical distancing limits the risk of exposure to those droplets. Wearing a mask also can help contain the droplets you emit, but it’s important to construct and wear the mask properly.

The CDC recommends the following:

Protect your community

            The CDC recommends all people 2 years of age or older wear a mask whenever they leave their home and when around people who don’t live in their household. This is especially true when physical distancing guidelines are difficult to maintain.

            Medical professionals have determined that COVID-19 can be transmitted by a person without symptoms. That could be a person who is sick but showing no symptoms, or even a person who has been infected but not yet fallen ill.

            So this is about you taking steps to protect your community.

Cited from https://www.osfhealthcare.org/blog/protect-your-community-with-a-face-mask-in-public/