Posted on 03/31/2020 3:09:54 PM PDT by familyop
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, revealed on Tuesday that White House coronavirus task force is seriously considering guidance that all Americans wear masks to help thwart the disease's spread.
But Fauci also acknowledged that such a directive has been complicated by the nationwide dearth of personal protective equipment.
"The idea of getting a much more broad, community-wide use of masks outside of the health care setting is under very active discussion at the task force. The CDC group is looking at that very carefully," Fauci told CNN.
"The thing that has inhibited that a bit is to make sure that we don't take away the supply of masks from the health care workers who need them," he continued. "But once we get in a situation where we have enough masks, I believe there will be some very serious consideration about more broadening this recommendation of using masks."
Fauci cautioned that "we're not there yet," but said he believed the task force was "close to coming to some determination" on whether to expand the administration's recommended mitigation measures to include masks.
"Because if, in fact, a person who may or may not be infected wants to prevent infecting someone else, one of the best ways to do that is with a mask. So perhaps that's the way to go," he said, adding that the subject was "under very active consideration" and would be raised at the task force's meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
Some public health experts, including former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner and informal administration adviser Scott Gottlieb, have suggested that encouraging the wearing of masks in public could help curb the rapid rate of COVID-19 infection in the United States, .
President Donald Trump on Monday said he had taken note of the proposal, outlined in a recent report Gottlieb co-authored, and that it could be possible that Americans will be directed to wear masks "for a short period of time."
"We'll take a look at it. For a period of time, not forever. I mean, you know, we want our country back. We're not going to be wearing masks forever," Trump said at the task force's daily press briefing.
The president also told reporters that "we're getting certainly the number of masks that you'd need" to implement the guidance — an assessment which Fauci appeared to disagree with on Tuesday.
"You don't want to take masks away from the health care providers who are in a real and present danger of getting infected," he said. "That would be the worst thing we do. If we have them covered, then you could look back and say, 'Maybe we need to broaden this.'"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_pandemic#Epidemiology
United States
Cases 186,203
Deaths 3,564
Recoveries 5,995
And where are all these masks going to come from? There aren’t enough for those who truly need them.
Fortunately at this point it’s all just recommendations
You’re going to have to roll your own.
Many more people are going to get killed in the U.S. because we aren’t wearing masks. Many, many more.
The Obama administration was warned in 2009 this was a serious national security problem, in that virtually all our mask production had shut down and had been exported to China. The Obama administration did nothing.
Making out is going to suck with those things on
Yep. Not as good as a manufactured mask but better than nothing. The CDC should have advised people to make masks and wear them weeks ago. Probably would have slowed the spread significantly.
Simple way to make a mask:
Many more people are going to get killed in the U.S. because we aren’t wearing masks. Many, many more.
Many more people are going to get killed in the U.S. from the Wu Flu Panic than will die from the virus. Many, many more. Not that tantruming Wu Flu addicts care about anything but themselves and their demented hobby.
I have been deemed to be one of the essentials by my employer. I hve been using a bandana to cover my face from the beginning, Last week each of us were given 2 sets of gloves. Today each of us was given one mask. I visit about 5 businesses a day in the course of my duties.
“a person who may or may not be infected wants to prevent infecting someone else, one of the best ways to do that is with a mask”
How about making cheap tests available for the home user, so that a person knows if they can even infect somebody else in the first place ? So instead we wont have to wear masks , we can save the effort for eyeglass if we really want to mandate people wear something on their face to reduce deaths , such as better visibility to reduce car accidents which account for way more deaths ?
Really? I think this is getting rather silly. I think it would be prudent to find out what percentage of the population is carrying antibodies.
I have a very small number of masks from a box I bought a couple years ago. I’ve been wearing them when I go to the store, but I re-use them. I guess some protection is better than none.
From what I have read elsewhere these don’t have to be medical masks (for want of a better term) but could just be regular cloth.
Ok fine if it let’s us re-open the country.
The panic is the problem. I like hearing the President, but Fauci’s non-stop gloom and doom is unnecessary.
The nipple-ringer, Cuomo, ordered his masks from China.... Is that a good example to follow?
“The Obama administration was warned in 2009 this was a serious national security problem, in that virtually all our mask production had shut down and had been exported to China. The Obama administration did nothing.”
To be fair the Trump administration has been in office for over three years. Apparently it also chose not to address the issue.
If we want manufacturers to bring back industries the government will either have to subsidize sales, reinstate quotas on imports or make high tariffs on imports permanent. The market voted years ago to outsource and it will take considerable time and investment to rebuild the supply chains eradicated over the past 25 years. What is the current incentive to invest other than patriotic duty?
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