Local Officials Need Donations of Facemasks, Urge You to Wear One in Public

BY: DAVID SHEPHERD, NEWS DIRECTOR

JASPER -- Health officials in Dubois County continue to remind residents that they should wear cloth facemasks when in public places like grocery stores and pharmacies, especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.  Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.

Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance, according to the agency's website.

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

There continues to be a need for cloth face masks and Dubois County Health Department wants to remind all that donations of homemade cloth face masks are being accepted.

Please place donations in a drop box located inside the double doors at the health department Monday through Friday 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.

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