08-10-2020, 07:38 PM
(08-10-2020, 10:40 AM)robdrimmie Wrote: According to this regularly updated CBC article, the CDC started advocating for masks on April 3, and Dr. Tam on April 6:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/masks-cor...-1.5507186
Quote:On April 3, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began to recommend wearing cloth face coverings in public places where other physical distancing measures are hard to maintain (such as grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas with community-based transmission.
On April 6, Tam also suggested using non-medical masks when out grocery shopping or at a pharmacy.
There was an article posted on the 6th about Tam's change in recommendation, along with some history of what she said when.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/non-med...-1.5523321
I think it's difficult for us to remember now but in March we didn't know how this virus transmitted and a lot of public health guidance was based on the transmission characteristics of SARS and MERS. That second article includes the line:
Quote:"We are very rapidly trying to integrate that later science," she said of the new studies that suggest people who have yet to develop symptoms can still have high viral loads that can be transmitted.
We know a lot more about this virus than we did four months ago.
Recommending and mandating are two different things though. Not sure if I had mentioned it here, but I had my mom wearing N95's in early March before all hell broke loose. Just my PPE training kicking in though. That said, the N95's do actually protect the wearer.
When this whole thing first came out, I initially thought it was being blown out of proportion, but within a few days of that wrong thinking, I knew it was really bad. I am glad that Canadians are generally smart, and have listened when they needed to. It's why we don't have the dire numbers like the UK and US.