AMERICANS may be required to wear face masks for more than a year in the fight to curtail the spread of COVID-19, experts have warned. The claims were made by medical experts at Yale University, who believe people are going to require masks until there is a vaccine, well into next year. Speaking to the […]
AMERICANS may be required to wear face masks for more than a year in the fight to curtail the spread of COVID-19, experts have warned.
The claims were made by medical experts at Yale University, who believe people are going to require masks until there is a vaccine, well into next year.
Speaking to the TODAY Show, Shan Soe-Lin, a lecturer in global affairs at the university, said: “I think that you’re going to need to wear masks for as long as COVID is a threat, and COVID is going to be a threat until you have a vaccine.
“If you read different plans for re-opening the economy, the plan is to really put a chokehold on (the virus) and only open the economy when the number of cases has fallen to a level that the hospitals can manage…. but masks would still be an important thing to cut down on transmission until you have a vaccine.”
As masks can be worn by anyone in the population, they are an easy way to combat the spread of the disease, Soe-Lin said.
Saad Omer, the director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, agreed with this assessment.
Omer, who teaches about infectious diseases, pointed out that it could take more than a year until a vaccine is deployed.
He said: “Even when a vaccine becomes available, the measures will outlast the release of the vaccine.
“We are in uncharted territory right now. Vaccines will vary by country, by mode of delivery…
“You’re looking at least a year to deploy the vaccine and have enough coverage.”
Masks, Omer added, are “easy to implement” and have a “low social cost.”
Soe-Lin also pointed out that, while N-95 and surgical masks should be reserved for medical professionals, wearing a cloth mask would be “better than nothing.”
She added that “multi-layered masks are more effective than single layers,” and that bandanas should be a “last resort” in terms of material.
Soe-Lin also said that masks should only be once before it is washed and removed.
On its website, the Center of Disease Control offers guidelines on how to cover one’s face.
On March 30, President Donald Trump said that if masks were to become necessary, it would only be for a short period of time.
In a separate interview with AccuWeather, Soe-Lin gave a different prognosis.
She said: “I think people are going to have to wear masks until there’s a vaccine. I mean that to be completely blunt.
“I think the next best would be through the end of the epidemic. It definitely needs to be moving past peak.”
On Friday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States topped 500,000, resulting in more than 18,000 deaths.
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