Around The Table: ER Doctor Lays Out How Wearing A Face Mask Can And Cannot Protect You
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Today, employees of essential businesses in Pennsylvania who are still at work are required to wear a mask, as are customers of those businesses.
KDKA's Kristine Sorensen talked with Dr. Arvind Venkat, emergency physician from Allegheny Health Network and past president of the Pennsylvania College of Emergency Physicians, about masks and what they do and don't do.
Here is their edited conversation:
Kristine Sorensen: "Please tell me what kind of protection a mask gives me, the wearer."
Dr. Arvind Venkat: "There are two levels of protection that a mask provides for you, who is wearing the mask. The most important protection probably is that it gives you a sense not to touch your face or your eyes, your mouth or your nose, which is how the virus might get transmitted.
"The other protection it provides is actually to others. It provides a physical barrier, not perfect, but it's still there, against you transmitting the virus to others."
Kristine Sorensen: "Okay, then, what kind of protection is it not providing, because sometimes I think there might be a false sense of security by wearing a mask.
Dr. Arvind Venkat: "That's correct. Wearing a mask, especially the kinds that are made at home, as opposed to the medical grade masks, do not have a level of filtration such that the virus can't go through the mask. That's why all of us in the healthcare community are using N95 respirators and surgical masks, and I would strongly urge everybody please don't go out and buy those types of masks because that puts a stress on the supply that we need in emergency departments and hospitals across the state.
"A cloth mask will help others from getting the virus, but it won't necessarily protect you automatically from getting the virus, and it doesn't substitute for social distancing — maintaining at least a six feet distance from others, avoiding touching our face and eyes and really thoroughly washing our hands."
