MD Residents Should Wear Face Masks: Health Official

ANNAPOLIS, MD — A Maryland health official on Friday urged all residents to wear a cloth mask if they must leave their home. The measure is recommended as the state confirmed 2,758 cases of the new coronavirus in Maryland, state health officials reported Friday morning, and 42 deaths.

Gov. Larry Hogan issued a stay-at-home order Monday and said he believes "the vast majority of people in the state are abiding" by the guidance that they only leave their homes for an essential job or for an essential purpose.

Fran Phillips, Maryland's deputy secretary for public health services, said the public should reserve N95 masks for health-care workers and asked residents to wear a homemade or cloth mask if they must go out. But cloth masks are better than no mask in curbing transmission in the public, she said.

"Masks are not to protect you from incoming virus, masks are to protect everyone around you from the virus that you may not be aware you have," Phillips said.

The heavy-duty masks doctors and health-care workers need are still in short supply and must be reserved for hospital workers, she said.

There are numerous online tutorials for making face masks on YouTube. Online retailers, including Etsy, are currently selling the cloth masks, but shipping times vary.

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President Donald Trump said Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends all Americans wear nonmedical-grade face coverings when in public to help prevent transmission of the new coronavirus.

Trump said the guidelines are voluntary and stressed that medical masks and respirators should be reserved for health care workers.

For updates on the coronavirus in Maryland, get Patch news alerts.

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