OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – As COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe, health officials in the United States are urging Americans to wear masks as they go out in public.
In the past, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that only people who were showing symptoms of the novel coronavirus should wear a mask.
As new data about asymptomatic carriers grew, the CDC decided to change its recommendation.
Masks should be worn in “public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission,” according to a CDC news release.
Cloth face coverings can be ordered or “made at home from common materials at low cost.”
Officials with the Oklahoma State Department of Health stress that if you are planning to wear a mask, choose something other than a common surgical facemask.
Experts say common surgical facemasks are not designed to block viral particles. The masks also do not create a seal around your nose and mouth. Therefore, they are not effective for keeping germs out.
However, they are an effective way to reduce the spread of viral particles if you are sick.
“So there is no confusion here – the facemask is not intended to protect the person who is wearing it, instead it is intended to prevent the spread of the virus from the wearer to others,” a note from the health department read.
For CDC recommendations on face coverings, as well as a video of our U.S. Surgeon General making a cloth face cover, click here.
CDC officials are warning that cloth face coverings are not a replacement for social distancing. People wearing cloth masks should wash their hands before putting it on their face, a CDC official said during the press conference.
