Face masks block the spread of respiratory droplets that can carry the novel coronavirus

 I am of course talking about face masks - fabrics, surgical or even a bandana. Face masks block the spread of respiratory drops that can carry the new coronavirus. But, as with so many other aspects of the response to COVID-19 - including mass testing, contact tracking, and the early use of stay-at-home orders - the US is again wasting this opportunity.

In many countries that have so far successfully gotten their COVID-19 epidemics under control, public health leaders, politicians and the public have fully embraced the use of face masks without any controversy. A recent study found that countries where masks were widely used shortly after their COVID-19 outbreak started, kept their death rates low earlier and had a shorter outbreak. Countries such as Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam that used rapid masking, along with other controls such as social distancing and track and trace, have reported fewer than 6 deaths per million inhabitants as a result of COVID-19.

Read more about N95 masks.