MASKS ‘NOT MAGICAL’
Officials warn facial coverings not foolproof to prevent COVID-19 A couple in protective masks walk past the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
EAGLEVILLE » While public health officials recommend wearing cloth face coverings in public settings to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, Montgomery County officials warned they are “not magical” and not an excuse for people to gather.
“Masks are not magical and I think that is a really important point,” county Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh said at a recent news briefing. “Masks, ones that we can make at home, are most useful for people that are actually sick and coughing or sneezing and could spread the coronavirus through those respiratory droplets.
“The cloth masks can help contain someone’s cough if they cough into the mask. But they’re not magical. They’re not like the N-95 masks that our medical personnel can wear and they will not completely prevent the virus from going through that mask,” Arkoosh said.
Arkoosh, a graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine who also has a master’s degree in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said it’s important that people not think that wearing a cloth mask does anything more than “slightly reduce” their risk of catching COVID-19.
“It will slightly reduce the risk but it’s not magical. So the most important thing you can do is stay at home and limit the number of trips that you make,” said Arkoosh, repeating the social distancing measures she has recommended for weeks in an effort to stop the spread of the disease in the county.
Arkoosh said the wearing of cloth masks should not tempt people to break social distancing rules. She warned the masks should not encourage people to gather.
“No one should get any false sense of security that just because they have a mask on they can go back to whatever they were doing before this started,” Arkoosh emphasized. “The most important thing that people can do is stay home.
“I’m going to save all the parents a lot of drama here. No, your kids cannot play basketball if they’re wearing masks. No, you’re kids cannot do any other activity with their friends that aren’t their household contacts just because they have on a mask,” Arkoosh
added.
As of Sunday, county officials and the county Office of Public Health reported 989 cases of COVID-19 in the county since March 7 and 22 related deaths.
As COVID-19 cases steadily rise statewide, Gov. Tom Wolf late last week stressed the need to intensify all measures to help stop the spread of the virus and recommended that all Pennsylvanians wear a mask any time they leave their homes for life-sustaining reasons.
“Masks help prevent people from sharing illnesses. But, they don’t do a great job at keeping people from getting sick; and, they’re not foolproof, so it is critical that our first act is to ask ourselves if we really need to leave our house. If we don’t really, truly need to leave, then we shouldn’t,” Wolf said.
State Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine echoed that staying home is the most effective way to protect yourself and others against COVID-19.
“But, if you must go out because you are out of food or medication, then wearing a mask, or even a bandana across your nose and mouth, could
be an extra layer of protection. You don’t need a surgical mask – we need those for our health care workers and first responders,” Levine said.
State officials have provided guidance on universal masking on the state health department’s website, including instructions on how to make a mask using materials people have at home.
As of noon on Monday, Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 cases stood at 12,980, with 162 deaths.
Gov. Wolf’s statewide stay-at-home order asked residents to not leave their homes unless it’s for life-sustaining reasons. On Friday, he suggested that wearing a mask during those life-sustaining trips becomes the norm.
“Wearing a mask will help us cut down the possibility that we might be infecting an innocent bystander, like the grocery store cashier, the pharmacist, or someone stocking shelves,” Wolf said. “These people are keeping us alive by getting us the supplies we need. We owe it to them to do everything we can to keep them safe. Right now, that means wearing a mask.”
For the most up-to-date information on COVID-19,
Pennsylvanians can visit: www.pa.gov/guides/responding-to-covid-19/
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also recommended wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, for example, grocery stores and pharmacies, especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.
The CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure, CDC officials said.
The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.