Now CDC says not to wear them.
QUICK FACTS:
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has changed its recommendations for travelers to wear face masks to avoid Monkeypox less than 24 hours after posting it, according to The Daily Mail.
- In a screen grab from June 6, a bullet point on the travel alert reads: “Wear a mask. Wearing a mask can help protect you from many diseases, including monkeypox.”
- The virus, which is believed to be spread through contact with a skin lesion, has become a topic of national discourse, but the CDC said they changed their advice to avoid “causing confusion.”
- Monkeypox is believed to have arrived in the United States with reports of 31 cases in seven states, including New York and California.
- A spokesperson for the CDC said that they decided to change their guidance in the first place to “inform travelers and clinicians about current health issues that impact travelers’ health, like disease outbreaks, special events or gatherings, and natural disasters in destinations around the world.”
EXPERT’S ON THE CDC’S RECOMMENDATIONS:
An infectious diseases expert at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Amesh Adalja, told DailyMail.com, that monkeypox is primarily transmitted through skin-to-skin contact: “When you look at the mechanics of this outbreak it is primarily transmitted through close contact and skin-to-skin contact,” he said. “While monkeypox can be transmitted through respiratory droplets, that is not the main way people are getting it. “For example, the household attack rate [number of people who catch the virus who live with an infected person] is not very high. In the same household, people are not getting infected at high rates.”
BACKGROUND:
- Mask mandates for COVID-19 are just beginning to roll back this year, with the transportation administration’s mandate still a hot topic of conversation.
- Eleven states in the union still have some form of mask requirements due to COVID-19, whether for all people or just the unvaccinated and under certain circumstances.
