From www.latimes.com

April 6, 2020

9:07 AM

Wearing masks or other face coverings is now recommended as one way of slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

What do we know about the effectiveness of masks?

Experts say masks alone are not particularly effective in preventing infection. They don’t cover the eyes, for instance, and a bit of coughed saliva that sprays into the eye can cause an infection.

Wearing a mask but still touching your face with unwashed, virus-contaminated hands can also lead to infection. People often find masks uncomfortable and touch them to make adjustments.

But even if they don’t provide full protection to the wearer, masks can protect others nearby by removing contaminated droplets from the air released by asymptomatic people when breathing or talking.

Research published by Cambridge University Press in 2013 found that homemade cloth masks “significantly” reduced the amount of potentially infectious droplets expelled by the wearer.

Dr. Otto Yang, a UCLA expert in infectious diseases, said he thought universal mask-wearing had helped keep the virus under control in places such as Singapore and Taiwan.

“My personal opinion is that that’s probably been an important thing in other countries flattening their curve,” he said. “If you go to Taiwan or Singapore, everyone’s got a mask on all the time. Healthy or not. Sick or not.”

California

Coronavirus could leave U.S. with a lasting imprint: Masks as normal part of life

‘We may be moving gently at this point toward the Asian culture,’ one health expert says of everyday mask-wearing.

What are some basic tips?

The California Department of Public Health has these guidelines for cloth masks:

• Face coverings can be made out of cloth, factory-made or hand-sewn, or improvised using bandannas, scarves, T-shirts, sweatshirts or towels.
• The material should cover both the nose and mouth.
• Be sure your mask is comfortable; you don’t want to have to keep adjusting the mask, because that means touching your face.
• Wash your hands, or use hand sanitizer, before and after touching your face or face coverings.

Stores across Southern California see a surge in demand for masks, hand sanitizer, self-stable food and other supplies because of the coronavirus outbreak.

California

Garcetti urges L.A. to wear face coverings when doing essential tasks in public

Coronavirus: Garcetti urges residents to wear face coverings when shopping, doing essential tasks

Should wearing masks be mandatory?

It is in Riverside County.

The county’s public health officer on Saturday ordered all residents to cover their faces when leaving home, marking a dramatic escalation by county officials in their attempts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Dr. Cameron Kaiser said, despite previous pleas from county officials for residents to socially distance, cover their faces and stay home, “more and more” residents were getting infected with the virus, and “not everyone’s getting the message.”