Science

How to prevent coronavirus: Wash your hands and ditch the mask

   By Emily BaumgaertnerNational Correspondent
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   Drugstores have reported skyrocketing demand, and several of Amazon’s
   top sellers are indefinitely out of stock. Shortages of surgical face
   masks are a visible sign that the novel coronavirus from China has
   reached the United States.

   But health experts warn that stocking up on the disposable masks could
   do more harm than good by limiting their availability to doctors and
   nurses. If the coronavirus outbreak should cause a run on anything,
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   “Fear spreads a lot faster than the virus,” said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner,
   an infectious disease expert at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public
   Health. “A mask makes you feel better, but you’re missing the more
   important protective measures.”
   Hong Kong subway passengers wear surgical masks during the coronavirus
   outbreak.
   Hong Kong subway passengers wear surgical masks during the coronavirus
   outbreak.
   (Associated Press)
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   There are good reasons to wear masks — namely, to protect others.
   Surgeons use them so they don’t cough or sneeze into open wounds.
   Emergency room staff hand them out to visitors with respiratory
   symptoms to protect others in the waiting area. Doctors diligently swap
   their masks between visits with immune-suppressed patients, to avoid
   exposing them to clinging pathogens.

   If you’re already sick, mask-wearing is good practice. Donning a paper
   mask on a crowded train or bus, for instance, can minimize the degree
   to which a cough or sneeze disseminates infectious fluid onto neighbors
   and handrails that will be grabbed throughout the day.

   But for everyone else, the masks are simply “unnecessary,” said Alex
   Azar, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

   In fact, if the mask-hoarding continues, officials worry there could be
   a shortage, affecting clinics and hospitals where they’re needed most.
   N-95 respirator masks, for example, use a more sophisticated filter to
   protect health workers doing riskier procedures like intubations,
   Klausner said, but they’re currently a hot item among the public. (Such
   masks are likely stored up in the Strategic National Stockpile in case
   commercial supplies are depleted, though officials won’t divulge
   details for security reasons).