You're not too cool to wear a face mask

Would I be more likely or less likely to get my head split open if I played American football without a helmet?

If I'm in the supermarket and someone sneezes in my face, what would be my chances of catching an illness from that person if I were wearing a mask as opposed to not?

I think the answers are obvious, but for some reason, national health officials in the US have been reluctant to recommend mask-wearing during the coronavirus pandemic and even have advised against it, as both the surgeon general and secretary of health and human services have.

But as cases of COVID-19 multiply exponentially across the United States, it seems that the obstinate stance against masks is gradually changing.

In a televised appearance Wednesday, Surgeon General Jerome Adams said he has asked for a review of the mask policy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which so far has maintained that masks aren't necessary for uninfected persons.

"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," Adams said.

Riverside County in Southern California has joined the pro-mask camp.

"When the situation changes, the rulebook changes," Dr Cameron Kaiser, the county's public health officer, said in a statement Tuesday. "We're seeing our numbers increasing even sooner than we predicted and that means our strategy must change too. Covering your face doesn't change the orders everyone must abide by to stay home as much as possible and maintain social distancing, but it's an extra layer of protection that I think we need to add."

"Guidance needs to change and needs to be clear that these nonmedical, nonsurgical masks are beneficial to the general public and should be worn when outside of the home," Robert Hecht, a professor of epidemiology at the Yale University School of Public Health, said in an article published Monday on politico.com.

Maybe some people think they're too cool to wear a mask, or that it makes them appear weak. Perhaps some even consider a mask an un-American encroachment on their freedom, similar to how a motorcyclist might scoff at helmet laws.

One argument I have encountered on social media is that people can't find the masks at stores or online, and that is largely true, as there also have been cases of hoarding and exorbitant price markups. (I happen to have had a few leftover masks from flu season two years ago.)

But I also have seen stories on the internet about how you can fashion your own mask. Making one from a coffee filter was one such hack. Even a regular scarf can offer some protection.

"Use a scarf if you want," US President Donald Trump said at the daily coronoavirus briefing Tuesday.

More masks should be available soon. Many American and Chinese companies are pitching in by making them or shipping them here.

The venerable American clothing company Brooks Brothers is repurposing three of its factories to produce masks and gowns.

The maker of the uniforms for Major League Baseball teams, whose seasons have been put on hold by the coronavirus, is producing protective equipment from team uniform fabrics.

On Twitter, the hashtag #WearAMask and similar ones were trending.

"I'm an RN (registered nurse) who has been appalled by the CDC's advice not to wear masks," wrote Twitter user Two Margarets. "A simple public health campaign can educate people on proper mask techniques. At the very least, universal mask-wearing reduces transmission rates."

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Tuesday: "The thing that has inhibited (the use of masks) is to make sure that we don't take away the supply of masks from the healthcare workers who need them.

"We're not there yet, but I think we're coming close to some determination, because if in fact a person who may or may not be infected wants to prevent infecting someone else, one of the best ways to do that is with a mask," said Fauci, a key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

What could be the game-changer in mask philosophy is asymptomatic transmission — when you pass the virus on to someone without even knowing you had it. The CDC itself has estimated that as many as 25 percent of virus carriers are asymptomatic.

"We now know that asymptomatic transmission likely [plays] an important role in spreading this virus," Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN.

Osterholm said asymptomatic infection "surely can fuel a pandemic like this in a way that's going to make it very difficult to control".

I am encouraged that more people at supermarkets in the New York area are now wearing face protection, and some stores are putting up clear-plastic partitions to separate their checkout staff from customers.

East Asian countries have long embraced mask-wearing. At China Daily in New York, most of us are mask adherents, or at least we were when we last worked together in the office more than two weeks ago.

I'm not saying wearing a mask is foolproof. You need to protect your eyes and probably your ears, too. You also have to keep your hands clean and not touch your face. A full hazmat suit would be better, come to think of it.

But you have to give yourself a fighting chance against an insidious threat, instead of breezily assuming you're immune.