How to Wear a Mask

will control the spread of the virus. But first, here's what happened today. New York State reported its largest increase in coronavirus deaths on Tuesday. Even so, there are signs that infection rates in New York are leveling off. The number of new cases reported has steadily dropped since Friday's peak. The United Kingdom also reported a record number of deaths in a single day, but in China, for the first time since the pandemic emerged in December, the country said

it had no new deaths. The Chinese government formally ended the lockdown in Wuhan, the city where the outbreak first emerged, after seventy six days. The strict measures imposed to combat the virus have been lifted. How Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Congress's next stimulus bill to prop up the U S economy will be at least another one trillion dollars. On a private conference call with Democrats, the Speaker said the

package would focus on replenishing funds for programs. Those funds had been established in Congress's two point to trillion dollar virus Relief Bill, which was signed into law last month. Pelosi said there should be a dish a direct payments to individuals, extended unemployment insurance, more resources for food stamps, and more funds for the Payroll Protection Plan that provides

loans to small businesses. Now for today's main story, US health officials and the World Health Organization are sending conflicting signals on the value of wearing masks in public. At the start of the coronavirus outbreak, the world's leading health authorities told the public that there was no need for masks unless you were ill or looking after someone who was.

But after more studies suggested people without symptoms could be spreading the virus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently changed their guidelines suggesting people cover their faces to help slow transmission. The World Health Organization, though held back from making the same recommendation. The confused and over face masks is just one more example of how our understanding of the virus and how to fight against it

is constantly changing. As London based Bloomberg News reporter James Payton explains, this changing messaging makes it hard for the public to know what information to take seriously. It also presents challenges in persuading people to change their behavior to help prevent future pandemics. The streets of London or New York today look much different than they did even a

week ago. Lots of people have their faces covered somewhere commercial surgical mass, others improvised with bandanas or so their own. A few even sport that coveted, and nine mass that are in such short supply among healthcare providers. What's clear is that something has changed in these cities. Until recently, few people were mass in public. What's not clear is how much they help. Outside of hospitals and clinics. The w h O and CDC are now at odds so

over whether everyone should wear mass. Dr Anthony Fauci is America's top medical expert on the coronavirus. He recently appeared on Fox News to say even simple coverings could make a difference, especially for those situations when you're at the grocery store or pharmacy, for instance, and it's difficult to

stay six ft away from others. Because of some recent information that the virus can actually be spread even when people just speak, as opposed to coughing and sneezing, the better part of valor is that when you're out and you can't maintain that six foot distance, to wear some sort of facial covering. Health officials say basic mass won't protect you if you're healthy, but they worry that if you are infected and don't show any signs of sickness,

you could unwittingly spread the disease. A number of countries and cities around the world have already embraced the idea of wearing masks in public check citizens have in ordered to wear masks outside their homes, and officials from New York to Los Angeles have instructed residents to cover up. Meanwhile, the WHO is still urging people to wear mass if they show symptoms or they're taking care of those who are ill. The shifting recommendations are coming as scientists race

to understand the virus and how it spreads. A study published last week and the journal Nature showed that flat surgical face masks reduced the droplets released from the nose and mouth into the air, and there are some indications the widespread wearing of mass could have helped lower transmission and outbreaks of other respiratory illnesses such as stars and influenza. While a scientific consensus has yet to emerge, the research

and supportive face mass is growing. But while health officials are pushing this message that everyone should wear masks, it also could create new problems. Scott Gottlieb is a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner. Key points to one debate around wearing a mask. Even if it can cut down on transmission, it's likely a lot of people will use it incorrectly and still potentially spread the virus. They'll reuse

the mask. If they have a mask on, they're going to be more apt to touch their face, and so that's why health professionals say, well, masks in the general population don't really reduce the risk because most people aren't gonna wear it right. They're gonna wear one mask for a whole week. They're not going to change it. It's

gonna get more, it's gonna get contaminated. When they have the mask on, they're gonna be constantly adjusting it, and that's going to increase the risk that they transmit infection because a lot of the transmission is through touching of contaminated surfaces and then touching your face. But the value of the mask, the real substantial value is in cutting

the risk of transmission. So when you have a virus like this where a lot of the transmission is asymptomatic, people, if you mandate that they wear masks when they go out, it's gonna cut their risk of giving the infection to you. Another risk is that promoting mass will give the public a false sense of protection that would encourage them to

go out more and abandon physical distancing. Health authorities also discourage wearing mass out of fear that people would hoard them that could worsen shortages for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers. Even if authorities aren't recommending the highly protective surgical grade products that are scarce and used in hospitals, wearing masks to limit disease transmission is a common practice

in many Asian countries. It took off during the Stars epidemic of two thousand three, and health authorities there say wearing masks can make a real difference. Widespread mask use was cited as one of the reasons Hong Kong limited the number of coronavirus cases and deaths. Now the CDC is following. Asia's lead officials say mass do help limit that transmission, and to solve the issue of shortages, have emphasized that the type of mass ordinary people where need

not be hospital grade. New York City mayor build A Blasio, ordered the city's residents to cover their face with just about anything last week. Let's be clear, this is a face covering. Again. We'll talk about the details in the moment. But it could be a scarf. Uh, It could be something you create yourself at home. It could be a bandana. It does not not need to be professional surgical mask. In fact, we don't want you to use the kinds

of masks that our first responders need. Scott Gottlieb, the former FDA commissioner, put together a roadmap for escaping the crisis with several other experts, published by the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank. They suggest everyone, including those without symptoms, should cover up. Gotlieb says, we just need to get

over our discomfort with the idea. Introducing the mask as you lift those shelter and place orders might be a good way to have a slow transition towards, you know, people going out again, and we might become a culture going forward where the wearing of masks in public, um, you know, is more common. I think we might have made a mistake by shaming the use of masks at the outset as heavily as we did. A lot of

people have masks at home right now. They bought masks, they have they've had them for a long time, and they're reluctant to wear them because they, you know, they were ashamed into not wearing them. So they have something that could potentially be affording them a certain degree of

protection and not even using it. And so I think we need to rethink how we how we think about masks, how we talk about masks with consumers, how we educate consumers to use masks appropriately, because on the margin, they're probably incrementally helpful when used appropriately in the right setting. If wearing masks in public places where it's difficult to maintain a distance. Is a prudent way to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. It begs the question should

we have been wearing them all along? The director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, George Gau, told the journal Science last month he believes America and Europe were making a big mistake by not telling the public to wear masks during the widening epidemic. That suggests we could look back on this as a missed opportunity. For now, there's likely to be more confusion over mass wearing. Maybe the best advice is just where something over your

face when you go out. As New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said last week, it couldn't hurt. Assuming you keep your guard up, You'll probably have plenty of company. What would have drawn stairs in the US or Europe just a few weeks ago is increasingly normal. And that was James Payton in London. And that's it for the Prognosis

Daily edition. For more on the pandemic from our bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com slash coronavirus, and if you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate us and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is hosted by Me Laura Carlson. The show is produced by Me Tophor Forehaz, Jordan Gaspoure, and Magnus Hendrickson. Additional reporting by James Peyton. Original music

by Leo Sidrian. Our editors are Francesco Levi and Rick Shine. Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.