President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all people wear cloth face coverings while in public - the latest a shift in the public dialogue surrounding how to best contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
According to the CDC, the measure is supported by “recent studies” suggesting that people can transmit COVID-19 before they know they’ve been infected and that the disease can be spread between two people who are speaking to one another.
“We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (“asymptomatic”) and that even those who eventually develop symptoms (“pre-symptomatic”) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms,” the CDC website stated. “This means that the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity—for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing—even if those people are not exhibiting symptoms.”
This announcement comes two days after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that all Los Angeles County residents should cover their faces while in public. Los Angeles County had 4,566 cases of COVID-19 and 89 deaths from the virus, as of April 3.
As of April 3, 2020, there are nearly 24,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 5,400 deaths reported in the United States, according to the CDC.
The official CDC recommendation is to not use medical masks as a face covering. Surgical and N95 masks should still be reserved for healthcare workers.
In a tweet, Garcetti stressed that members of the public should not use N95 and surgical masks, and instead reserve them for first responders and medical workers. Angelenos can use bandanas, scarves, or any piece of cloth that covers both the nose and mouth as an alternative. There are also numerous online guides that demonstrate how to make your own mask.
Garcetti also emphasized that wearing a mask in public does not diminish the importance of social distancing.
“To be clear, you should still stay at home. This isn’t an excuse to suddenly all go out,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health and state health officer, echoed Garcetti.
“Face coverings are not a substitute for physical distancing or frequent hand washing, which we know are amongst the most effective ways to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” Angell wrote in a statement issued on April 1.
Dr. Eleanor Sadler, a clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious disease at Children’s National Hospital, told Annenberg Media that cloth mask is better than nothing in terms of protecting people from droplets, but it can come with risks of bacterial infections, according to a research published on The BMJ, a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal.
Previously, the CDC’s recommendation was that people would wear masks routinely only if they were sick or taking care of an infected person. USC students were advised earlier this semester not to wear facemasks as a precaution against COVID-19 - demonstrating the speed at which advice is changing as new details surrounding the still largely understood virus develop. The most up-to-date guidelines from the university advise students to wear facemasks when going out in public, although this should not replace proper hand washing and social distancing as preventative measures.
There are about 1,400 USC students still living in university housing. USC Student Health is working on the support related to the new facial covering guidance they can provide to the students who are staying on campus, Chief Health Officer Sarah Van Orman said in a press briefing via Zoom Friday afternoon.
Van Orman said facial covering could be a source of infection if people are not using it properly.
“If you have a facial covering and it does become contaminated, and you don’t properly remove it and then wash your hands, there’s a risk that that facial covering then actually can actually cause infection,” she said.
Van Orman emphasized again that the facial covering does not substitute social distancing and hand washing.
On March 31, Van Orman said that 12% of testing results for COVID-19 were positive at USC Student Health. She said on April 3 that the number has not changed much.
“I think this morning, it was 11%,” she said. “We have tested -I don’t have the exact number-around somewhere between 250 and 300 so far.”
That means around 30 people have tested positive for COVID-19 at USC Student Health.
She added that the testing volume has decreased and fewer people within the student population reported respiratory symptoms over the last week, comparing to the week before. She believes the number went down partially because students have been practicing social distancing, “really taking those measures to heart.”
Alexa Corcoleotes, a junior studying public relations, believes that the new facial covering recommendations should be followed, even if they seem extreme.
“The more cautious we are, the better. It might be a little much, but at this point, I don’t want California to turn into New York,” Coroleotes said in a phone interview.
Kate Ly Johnston, a junior majoring in journalism, has a large pack of masks that she will likely use when she goes out. However, once she runs out of masks, she plans to simply cover her face with a shirt while in public.
“I’m not gonna go looking for masks, the less time spent outside the better,” Johnson said. “I’m willing to social distance, even if people I know are still hanging out.”
In the past week, the U.S. administration appeared to be conflicted about guidance on wearing masks in public space, according to reports from the New York Times and Politico.
Some countries advised or even required their citizens to wear masks much earlier than the United States.
Between late January and early March, case studies, medical researches and health officials in China, Italy, South Korea and the United States suggested multiple times that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic people with COVID-19 can transmit the coronavirus to others, according to reports from news media across the world -including BBC, Reuters, New York Times, Business Insider, CNN, South China Morning Post, Caixin and The Guardian.
On Jan. 22, when there were over 500 cases of COVID-19 and 17 deaths reported in China, the government of Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, required all people in public places to wear masks to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. The requirement of wearing masks in public was later expanded across the country.
On Feb. 27, when there were 1,766 cases of COVID-19 in South Korea, Korean health officials advised everyone to wear masks in the public space.
In late March, health officials in European countries like Germany also started to advise people wearing masks in the public space.
As of April 3, the World Health Organization website has not changed its advice on wearing masks, still saying “if you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected 2019-nCoV infection.”