To Wear a Mask, Or to Not Wear a Mask? It's a Question Many of You Have Been Asking

FROM LOCAL SOURCES

WASHINGTON–If you have a mask and it makes you feel better about protecting yourself against the coronavirus, then wear it, but there is a caveat that comes with that. That’s the message from the U.S. Surgeon General and former Indiana State Health Commissioner Jerome Adams.

Adams spoke on “Fox and Friends” Tuesday morning.

“Know that the more you touch your face, you are putting yourself at risk. You should also know that the data isn’t quite there to say that there is a net benefit to the individual of wearing a mask,” says Adams.

Adams warns wearing a mask improperly can increase your risk of catching the disease.

“It can also give you a false sense of security. You see many of these pictures with people out and about closer than 6 feet to each other, but still wearing a mask,” says Adams.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends you stay at least six feet away from other people to practice proper social distancing. If you put the mask on and feel leakage, then the mask is not properly sealed. If it’s not properly sealed, your risk of exposure to the virus goes up.

The type of mask health experts recommend you wear is an N95 mask.

“We tell sick people to wear masks, so you don’t transmit the disease to others,” says Adams.

The World Health Organization continues to recommend people not wear face masks unless they are sick with the coronavirus or caring for someone who is sick.

49 people have died from the coronavirus in Indiana.