COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US)

Infoman said
Sometimes I wonder if we are reading the same quotes...

He says nothing about N95 specifically (just the overall practice of wearing a mask)...

He says...

"There's no reason to be walking around with a mask," infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told 60 Minutes.

"While masks may block some droplets", Fauci said, "they do not provide the level of protection people think they do". Wearing a mask may also have unintended consequences: "People who wear masks tend to touch their face more often to adjust them, which can spread germs from their hands."

He is quite literally saying... Don't wear a mask... It may make things worse.... (This was in April)

He does go on later to say that...

But there is another risk to healthy people buying disposable masks as a precaution. The price of face masks is surging, and Prestige Ameritech, the nation's largest surgical mask manufacturer, is now struggling to keep up with the increased demand.

"It could lead to a shortage of masks for the people who really need it," Fauci said.

Added - For healthy people, both the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend they wear masks only when taking care of those who are sick or suspected of having the virus.

If what we are hearing today (everyone needs to wear a mask in public at all times) ... isn't a complete 180 from what we were told in April... I need to study geometry again. LOL

I think it's true that the messaging in March and into April was that masks weren't likely to be effective. I remember the US Surgeon General tweeting that people don't need to be buying masks. At that time there was also concern that demand for masks from the general public would limit supplies at hospitals.

But in the meantime, new research has been coming to light evidencing that the virus transmitted though the air much more easily than first anticipated. The R0 values are higher than previously thought, and a number of airflow analysis reports and investigations of mass infections (e.g. at the bio-tech conference in Boston in February or the choir practice in Washington state) have supported a revised view on the likely effectiveness of wearing a mask when around others . . . especially indoors. Also, we know that asymptomatic (or presymptomatic) infections are carrying sufficient viral load to be transmitting if the person is in public.

So we have a situation where mask supplies have increased and hospital need seems to be met. Contagiousness through the air is more potent than first believed. And asymptomatic infected people are in public. Makes sense to revise the view on masks.