Worthy Christian News > U.S. Headlines > US government expected to advise public to wear face-coverings outdoors

US government expected to advise public to wear face-coverings outdoors

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – After the US recorded 1000 coronavirus deaths in one day on Wednesday, it is expected the federal government will shortly advise Americans to cover their mouths and noses when outdoors. Advice on wearing masks has been the subject of ongoing debate among the US coronavirus taskforce, as some worry face-coverings may give a false sense of security and cause the public to ignore social-distancing and hand-washing instructions.

Addressing a White House task force meeting on Thursday, President Trump stated he did not think face coverings would be mandatory and that people could “decide for themselves.” Vice President Mike Pence added that the task force was still considering advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and recommendations would be announced in the coming days.

The WHO has stated that standard face masks must be combined with proper hand-washing and social-distancing to have effect. This was confirmed by Dr. Deborah Birx of the US task force at Thursday’s briefing: “[A mask] is not a substitute for the presidential guidelines (on social distancing) that have already gone out,” she said. “Don’t get a false sense of security that that mask is protecting you exclusively from getting infected.”

Nevertheless, studies into the spreading virus have caused experts to reconsider previous guidance. Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Wednesday, the US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said: “Now we’ve learned about this disease — and we’ve always said we’re going to learn more … we’ve learned there’s a fair amount of asymptomatic spread and so we’ve asked the CDC to take another look at whether or not having more people wear masks will prevent transmission of the disease to other people.”

White House medical experts have warned between 100,000 to 240,000 people in the US could be killed by coronavirus and have urged the population to adhere to the strict guidelines in country’s the fight to keep the numbers down.