The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncontrol/maskguidance.htm
In March 5, 2019 regarding the flu: “Masks are not usually recommended in non-healthcare settings; however, this guidance provides other strategies for limiting the spread of influenza viruses in the community: • cover their nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, • use tissues to contain respiratory secretions and, after use, to dispose of them in the nearest waste receptacle, and • perform hand hygiene (e.g., hand-washing with non-antimicrobial soap and water, and alcohol-based hand rub if soap and water are not available) after having contact with respiratory secretions and contaminated objects/materials.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, March 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRa6t_e7dgI
From the New England Journal of Medicine
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006372
“We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.”
• Final Thoughts •
Surgical masks – loose fitting. They are designed to protect the patient from the doctors’ respiratory droplets and to protect the doctor from blood and bodily secretions. The wearer is not protected from others airborne particles
• People do not wear masks properly. Most people have the mask under the nose. The wearer does not have glasses on and the eyes are a portal of entry.
• The designer masks and scarves offer minimal protection – they give a false sense of security to both the wearer and those around the wearer. **Not to mention they add a perverse lightheartedness to the situation.
• If you are walking alone, no mask – avoid folks – that is common sense.
• Remember – children under 2 should not wear masks – accidental suffocation and difficulty breathing in some.
• If wearing a mask makes people go out and get Vitamin D – go for it. In the 1918 flu pandemic people who went outside did better. Early reports are showing people with COVID-19 with low Vitamin D do worse than those with normal levels. Perhaps that is why shut-ins do so poorly.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.08.20058578v4
Curated by Marilyn M. Singleton, MD, JD @MSingletonMDJD
