Story at a glance
- Dr. Fauci said it is important not to take away the supply of masks from health care workers who need them.
- The White House task force discusses the idea during the briefing on March 31.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend that the public use masks.
The top infectious disease expert in the country said Tuesday the White House coronavirus task force is considering recommendations that Americans wear masks to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
“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,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told CNN Tuesday.
“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 said. “But once we get into a situation where we have enough masks, I believe there will be some very serious consideration about more broadening this recommendation of using masks.”
Public health and medical professionals for weeks had been urging healthy people not to stockpile masks to avoid cutting into supplies at hospitals.
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Fauci added, “We’re not there yet,” but said the task force was nearing a determination on the guidance. The topic was discussed at Tuesday’s task force briefing on March 31.
President Trump said Monday that he had not discussed the issue with his experts but it was something they would look into.
“We are not going to be wearing masks forever, but it could be for a short period of time after we get back into gear,” Trump said. “I could see something like that happening for a period of time.”
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The idea runs counter to guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), who reiterated Monday that it believes sick people and those caring for sick patients need masks.
“There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit,” Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program, said Monday. “In fact, there’s some evidence to suggest the opposite in the misuse of wearing a mask properly or fitting it properly.”
WHO warned last week the world is facing a shortage of protective equipment for health professionals.
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