What About Masks to Protect Against Coronavirus

In every image we see of people in countries suffering active community transmission, they are wearing masks.  So, I contacted a community colleague, Kevin McCulley, a public health professional, for some direction.  His comments and suggested links are below:

Expect masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to be unavailable, until manufacturing is spooled up. Remember that even if masks become available, many manufacturers are limiting distribution to healthcare partners and first responders only.

Also, all n95 masks are required to be fit-tested, and even with fit testing, the failure rate can be high (especially in untrained individuals).

Also, n95 are not appropriate for anyone with beards, small children, and or people with pre-existing respiratory conditions.

https://academic.oup.com/ofid/article/4/suppl_1/S166/4294120

https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712%2808%2901008-4/fulltext

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00055954.htm

The best protection is avoidance.  

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20584862

In general, the thought is that masks do more to protect others from our illness, than to protect us from theirs.

Thanks to Kevin McCulley, a public health professional with lots of hats:  Family Health, Medical and Special Pathogens Manager, UT Dept of Health, Bureau of EMS & Preparedness.