Point Boro Police: Wear Face Coverings In Coronavirus Outbreak

POINT PLEASANT BORO – Point Pleasant Boro police want people to wear face coverings amid the cornavirus outbreak in public settings. But police also noted that the cloth face coverings recommended by the CDC are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators, Point Pleasant Boro police said.

Chief Richard Larsen issued a statement noting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recently issued guidance to all Americans recommending the wearing of cloth face coverings in public settings where social distancing measures may be difficult to maintain.

The Point Pleasant Police Department and the Point Pleasant Borough Office of Emergency Management, as a result, have issued guidance to essential businesses in town asking them to enforce the 6-foot social distancing recommendations.

The police are also asking that these businesses require their customers to wear a cloth face mask while patronizing their establishments.

This includes essential businesses such as grocery stores, pharmacies, take-out food establishments as well as any other businesses that have been deemed essential by Gov. Phil Murphy's executive orders.

Point Pleasant Boro had 63 cases as of Monday. Read more: Latest Point Pleasant Coronavirus Updates: What You Need To Know

"Point Pleasant Boro has long been recognized as a community where residents look out for each other and assist their neighbors and friends, in good times and in trying times," Larsen said. "It is in this spirit that we encourage the following of these recommendations and ask for your compliance.

"By working together, we can all help slow and ultimately stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community, state and our country as a whole."

The CDC emphasizes that if you must leave your home, you should maintain a minimum of 6 feet distance from the people around you. "This is critically important to slowing and stopping the spread of the coronavirus," Larsen said.

The CDC also emphasizes that the use of a simple cloth face covering may slow the spread of the virus and prevents people who may have the virus, and may not know it, from transmitting it to others, he said.

The cloth face coverings recommended by the CDC are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for first responders and healthcare workers as recommended by current CDC guidance.

Acceptable cloth face coverings, according to the CDC, can be fashioned from common household materials and can be made at home at low cost. Examples of acceptable cloth face coverings include layering bandanas, scarves and any other cloth material that can be secured by any means around a person’s nose and mouth.