Travelers wearing face masks gather at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. Face masks sold out and temperature checks at airports and train stations became the new norm as China strove Tuesday to control the outbreak of a new coronavirus that has reached four other countries and territories and threatens to spread further during the Lunar New Year travel rush. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Johns Hopkins University professor, Dr. Marty Makary, joined Tucker Carlson last night to discuss the results of a new study that found that 86% of Coronavirus carriers are unaware they are infected because they are either asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic. These individuals don’t know they have it, but they can still spread it.
Makary told Carlson, “Young, healthy people tend to be the community transmitters and they affect the most vulnerable. This is one of those rare things where what we do as healthy people affects somebody we’ve never met before.”
(One piece of good news, Makary said, is that a recent study showed only one child died out of a total of 2,100 that were infected.)
Makary said most people in this group are under forty and have strong immune systems.
This is a huge problem because, believing they don’t have the Coronavirus, they go about their regular activities and all the while, they are spreading the disease.
President Trump’s former FDA Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb MD, posted a very worthwhile Twitter thread in which he recommends the mandatory use of procedure masks (not the heavy duty N95 masks) to help protect against Coronavirus carriers who are asymptomatic. It may sound crazy at first, but if you consider the extreme measures we’re already taking to fight the spread of the virus, it may not be too much to ask.
If the concern is that asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic younger Americans (millennials) are continuing to spread #Coronavirus because they don’t heed warnings, you could require anyone between certain ages to wear a procedure mask when they go out. 1/n
If we’re at the point of locking down entire cities, we must consider other ways to break off transmission that don’t take away peoples’ liberty. CDC’s current position is that people should only wear a mask when you’re sick. But we know this is spread by Asymptomatic people. 2/n
Any ordinance would have to specify procedure masks and not N95 masks which are in short supply and needed by healthcare workers. There does not appear to be any shortage of procedure masks, and these masks are still very helpful in preventing spread through droplets. 3/n
People should still be required to stay home if sick, but that’s hard to enforce. Requiring a procedure mask for those who go out in areas of sustained spread (like some big cities) would be a second layer of protection when people are asymptomatic or defiant. 4/n
Thoughtful op ed @nytimes on masks and whether messaging was wrong. We must distinguish between N95 masks that healthcare providers need because of added protection, and procedure masks which could still help prevent transmission and protect consumers 5/n https://t.co/YnJAun7NCi
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) March 18, 2020
People who stockpiled N95 mass should donate them to their local hospital. When they do, they can be given a replacement stock of procedure masks. 6/n
CDC guidance recommends people symptomatic with flu wear mask if have to travel outside. Since we know there can be asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic spread of #COVID19, mask could help reduce transmission where people may not realize they’re infected 7/n https://t.co/I7eRDhNErg
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) March 18, 2020
It’s noteworthy when Chinese President appeared in public it was always with procedure mask. He was reinforcing people should wear mask, and it should be a procedure mask and not the N95 masks that most people couldn’t get access to and that healthcare workers needed more badly. 8/n
Remember, prior guidance in U.S. discouraged a mask but it was a time when there were probably hundreds and maybe low thousands of cases (and officials maintained there was no community spread). Now there are clear hot spots and sustained transmission so risk has grown a lot. 9/n
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