Updated CDC Guidance Says Masks Also Protect the Wearer From COVID-19 .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made the announcement on Tuesday.
Previously, the CDC suggested that the main benefit of wearing a mask was to prevent coronavirus-positive individuals from spreading the disease to others.
Now, the CDC has publicly endorsed face masks as a form of personal protection.
According to the new guidance, masks provide “filtration for personal protection” by blocking infectious droplets from others.
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The CDC cited a number of studies that show wearing a mask can reduce the risk of transmitting or catching COVID-19 by 70 percent.
One study looked at an instance in Missouri where mutual mask use helped keep two coronavirus-positive hair stylists from transmitting the disease to any of their 67 clients.
The relationship between source control and personal protection is likely complementary and possibly synergistic, so that individual benefit increases with increasing community mask use, CDC, via statement.
Dr. Anthony Fauci echoed the CDC’s new guidance in an MSNBC interview, saying it’s a “two-way street.”.
You protect others, their mask protects you, and your mask also protects you, Anthony Fauci, via MSNBC
