Masks Are Important-- And Something You Can Do To Protect Yourself... And Everyone Else

Don't ask me why, but politicians seem to be afraid of being photographed wearing masks. Andy Levin (D-MI), a real leader is not afraid-- and he's leading by example. Today was his first day heading out in public wearing a mask like the CDC now suggests. "I'm going to do a curbside grocery pick-up in my Chevy Bolt EV right now," he told me. "America, world, we've got this! (Even if we have to work around a few clueless leaders.)"

Remember when the government said don't buy a mask because they don't work and hospital workers need them? And remember realizing there was a disconnect there? Friday we posted Chris Martsenson's podcast on why everyone should wear a mask. If you didn't watch it yesterday, do yourself a favor and watch it now. A few hours later, the Trump government-- if not Señor Trumpanzee himself-- is now recommending everyone wear a mask. Trump, who suddenly sidelined the most trusted pandemic expert in the country-- Dr. Anthony Fauci-- said this about wearing a mask: "You can do it. You don’t have to do it. I’m choosing not to do it. It’s only a recommendation." Everyone who comes near him is tested so it's safer for him than it is for you.

Lena Sun and Josh Dawsey reported for the Washington Post yesterday that the CDC had Trump announce the mask recommendation-- which will be ineffective until it's mandatory-- even though they should have guessed he would immediately undermine their work. "But Trump immediately undermined the announcement," they wrote, "by noting it was voluntary and he would not choose to do it, even though 'it may be good,' reflecting a sharp debate that has been going on in recent days between the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the wearing of such cloth face masks."

White House coronavirus task force officials had been considering whether to recommend universal use of face coverings such as cloth masks when people go out in public or making the guidance narrowly targeted to areas with high community transmission of the virus that causes covid-19.

Some senior administration officials pushed to focus on people living in the hardest-hit areas because they worried that wide community use of masks is unnecessary and could cause panic. The president has repeatedly said that he fears widespread use of masks will scare Americans, and that he believes it is unnecessary, according to one senior administration official.

But federal health officials, including experts at the CDC, say the guidance only makes sense if it is recommended broadly because it would be an additional way to contain the virus and prevent communities with low transmission from becoming areas with explosive spread. The CDC has been recommending widespread community use since late last week.

White House officials had been privately contradicting CDC proposals for everyone to wear face coverings. The topic was part of spirited debate in the coronavirus task force meetings this week, and in Oval Office discussions with the president, according to senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the proposed guidance.

One of the main proponents for wider mask use has been Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner in the Trump administration who has been acting as an informal adviser to the White House and sometimes talks to Trump and regularly speaks with administration officials.

Earlier Friday, the draft guidance the CDC had been directed to publish only focused on recommendations for people in the hardest hit areas, according to a federal official involved in the response. But the guidance was changed to the broader version, urging all Americans to wear face coverings, at the coronavirus task force meeting Friday, according to two administration sources.

Trump’s remarks at Friday’s daily briefing also made clear the guidance was for broad community use, with a special emphasis for those in the most affected areas. The guidance posted on the CDC website states:

“CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings 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.”

The guidance makes clear that wearing face coverings or cloth masks is an additional public health measure to prevent the spread of the virus, not a substitute for social distancing. Social distancing of at least six feet is still recommended even when wearing a mask. Guidance and internal memos from CDC emphasize that a cloth facial mask is intended not so much to protect the wearer but to help prevent people who do not know they are infected from spreading of the virus to others.

Recommendations for people to wear face coverings in public represents a major change in CDC guidance that healthy people don’t need masks or face coverings. Internal memos and guidance had previously made clear the coverings are not medical masks, such as N95 respirators or surgical face masks, which are needed by front-line health-care workers and are in extremely short supply. Those must continue to be reserved, they say.

Separately, U.S. officials are weighing a plan to distribute reusable cloth face masks-- not medical masks-- to U.S. households, starting with locations hardest hit by covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to a federal official involved in the response and documents shared with The Post.

The new CDC guidance was drafted in recent days and was prompted by increasing evidence that infected people without symptoms can spread the coronavirus. Simple cloth masks that cover the mouth and nose can prevent virus transmission from such individuals when they are out buying groceries, when people may come into closer contact, for example.

“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 published guidance states. “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.”