It may be a good idea to wear face masks (just don't buy masks needed by medical professionals)

By Howard B. Owens
Mar 31, 2020, 7:41pm

In early March, the U.S. Surgeon General, Jerome M. Adams, told Americans to stop buying masks.

With very good reason: if the general public buys up the supply of masks, especially all of the N95 masks (the best at blocking airborne viruses from entering your respiratory system), there wouldn't be enough for the people who really need them, such as doctors and nurses.

But many health care experts have been questioning recently the rest of the surgeon general's message: That masks are ineffective at protecting you from coronavirus.

Now the Center for Disease Control is considering rescinding its recommendation against general public mask wearing.

Before we discuss why it might be a good idea for all people in public to wear masks, let's remember the best way to reduce the spread of COVID-19 is:

Stay home. Limit your contact with other people as much as possible. There is simply no method more effective at slowing the spread of the disease.
Wash your hands. A 2008 study showed that regular hand washing reduces the chance of infection by up to 20 percent. The companion advice to washing your hands is don't touch your face with unclean hands.
Clean surfaces regularly, especially in public spaces. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can survive 72 hours on plastics, 48 hours on stainless steel, 24 hours on cardboard, and four hours on copper. People in charge of public areas should be especially aware of the need to frequently clean surfaces.

With that knowledge, should you worry about package delivery? The experts say, "no." The risk is very low.

What about food delivery and take out? Again, the risk is very low, and COVID-19 is a respiratory illness and even if it were to enter your digestive system, it wouldn't survive to infect you.

However, it's always good to remember when dealing with other people or touching surfaces, maintain social distancing and wash or sanitize your hands immediately.

Service workers should sanitize their hands after every exchange.

Now, about masks.

It's important to know, masks by themselves won't protect you. Even the best N95 mask is imperfect protection and surgical mask, the kind that loosely covers your nose and mouth, is designed to protect others from germs you might be spreading, not to protect you. Because they don't form a tight seal around your nose and mouth, air (which can contain droplets containing the virus) flows around the edges of the mask into your respiratory system.

Here's the argument for masks:

You can contract coronavirus and be infectious without showing any symptoms or showing only minor symptoms. That means you could potentially be a carrier of COVID-19 and not know it. If you go into public you can spread SARS-CoV-2 to other people and never know it. If you're wearing a mask, you present much less of a risk to other people, people who might be much more susceptible to the disease.
There is much that scientists don't know about COVID-19 but there is a theory that viral load (how much virus a person breaths in before the infection takes hold) affects health outcomes. There is some speculation that wearing a mast might reduce the viral load if you are exposed to the SARS-CoV-2. We don't know, but as one medical journal noted, the lack of evidence for effectiveness isn't proof of ineffectiveness.
If more people wear masks in public, it will reduce the social embarrassment or stigmatization associated with wearing masks.
And as Dr. Neil Aberneth noted in our discussion today, maintaining your mental health is important during this pandemic and if wearing a mask makes you feel more comfortable and safer in public, you should wear a mask.

Do you know where mask wearing is common? In South Korea, which, even though that country had its first official case of COVID-19 on the same day as the United States, has had far fewer positive cases and fewer deaths.

So, should you go out and buy face masks? Well, even if you wanted to, good luck finding them. Surgical masks on Amazon.com won't be available until at least May. Besides, whatever supply of professionally made masts might be available should first go to health care professionals. That leaves, "Do It Yourself (DIY)." Below are some videos on making your own face mask.

If you do wear a face mask here are some important guidelines from healthline.com:

Wearing a mask alone will not prevent you from getting a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Careful handwashing and social (physical) distancing must also be followed.
Wash your hands before you put on your mask.
If you are wearing a mask, avoid touching it the front of it. You can transfer the virus from your hands to the mask.
You can also transfer the virus from the mask to your hands. Wash your hands if you touch the front of the mask.
Know how to put on and remove a mask by touching the elastic ear straps only.
Do not wear a mask if you are healthy and in self-quarantine.
Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing. This may help prevent spreading the virus to others.
If you think you may have the SARS-CoV-2 infection, wear a mask. You can spread the virus even if you don’t have any symptoms.
Wear a mask if you are caring for someone who may have a SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19 disease. It may help prevent you from catching the infection.
Don’t write your name or initials on your mask as that will inactivate it.
Do not reuse a worn mask. It may have the virus on it.
Throw away used masks in a closed bin.