Dr. Spencer says everyone wearing face masks in public will ‘help slow spread of COVID-19’
Emergency room physician Dr. Craig Spencer weighs in on the coronavirus pandemic on ‘America’s Newsroom.’
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While the White House is expected to recommend wearing face masks in public, Dr. Craig Spencer said on Friday that it would be “smart” because of the widespread asymptomatic transmission of the coronavirus.
“We know that people before they have symptoms, can transmit this virus -- just a normal activity so I think it’s smart and it’s good guidance,” the director of Global Health and Emergency Medicine at New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center told “America’s Newsroom.”
Spencer, the first Ebola patient in New York City and the fourth in the country in 2014, said that since there are “such high levels of community transmission and prevalence,” the guideline is “smart” because it will slow the spread.
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The White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could encourage Americans to wear masks to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, President Trump said Thursday.
During the coronavirus task force press briefing, Trump said the recommendations could be released
"I think they're going to be coming out with regulations on that and if people want to abide by them -- frankly, I don't think they'll be mandatory because some people don't want to do that," Trump said. "If people wanted to wear them, they can."
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"A recommendation is coming out, we'll see what that recommendation is," he added later. "But I will say this, they can pretty much decide for themselves right now."
However, Spencer said that the mask will not give full protection from the virus, therefore, social distancing must continue to be practiced.
Spencer went on to say, “They are meant to help people who have the mask on from preventing the spread from man to others. They’re not really going to help you all the time from getting infected yourself.”
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Spencer said that the masks are not meant to be a “cure-all.”
“The only thing that can actually save you and protect you is not being exposed because the virus can’t infect you if it never meets you,” Spencer concluded.
Fox News' Ann Schmidt contributed to this report.