The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday that surgical masks should be reserved for health workers but it has paved the way for increased use of masks, even handcrafted, by the general public to limit the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus. A senior WHO official told reporters that airborne transmission of the virus could have affected more than a million people worldwide and killed 50,000 people since the first cases in December in China.
But the main vector of transmission remains sick people who cough, sneeze, blow their nose and contaminate surfaces or other people. “We must reserve medical and surgical masks for frontline staff. But the idea of using masks covering the respiratory tract or the mouth to prevent coughing or sniffling from spreading the disease into the environment and towards others (…) is not a bad idea in itself ” said Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO expert on emergencies, at a press conference.
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Anthony Fauci, doctor and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, in charge of coordinating the fight against Covid-19, said in the United States on Friday that Americans should cover their mouths and noses their of their outings in public but that they should above all remain confined as much as possible. In France, the director general of health, Jérôme Salomon, estimated for his part that "the notion of access by the whole public to a general public or alternative mask can be encouraged", while stressing that these masks do not do not replace the “barrier gestures” of frequent hand washing and social distancing.
A position shared by Mike Ryan at the WHO, who recognized the existence of a "very important and healthy" debate on the generalization of the wearing of masks. "There may be circumstances in which the use of masks, whether homemade or made of fabric, on a community scale, can participate in the global and complete response to this disease", a- he says.
