Some of the recommendations from Gottlieb and Rivers could be easier to put in place. They suggest, for instance, that the public should be urged to start wearing fabric masks in public — not paper surgical masks that are already in short supply in hospitals, but masks that could be made at home or bought online.
“We did not and would not recommend the use of proper personal protective equipment” for the public,” Rivers said. But she noted that because people can transmit SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, before they develop symptoms, having them wear masks when they are out in public might slow spread of the disease.
“We don’t think they’re going to be very effective at keeping healthy people healthy, but what they would be better at is preventing people who are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic from spreading. They’re more useful for source control,” she said. End quote
