Published 12:17 IST, July 15th 2020
US CDC Director: COVID-19 could be controlled in weeks if people wear masks
Robert Redfield, the director of the US CDC has said that the coronavirus cases in the country could be brought into cntrol if everyone wore masks.
Robert Redfield, the director of US’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that the coronavirus cases in the country could be brought into control within four or eight weeks, only if Americans start wearing masks. This comes as the United Staes has crossed 34,31,574 cases and 1,36,466 people have died, as per the latest tally by John Hopkins University.
Redfield's comments were published in an editorial by Journal of the American Medical Association which highlighted that infection rate in populations could be drastically reduced with masking. Encouraging people to wear face coverings he said, that the time was now to embrace masking. .
"If we could get everybody to wear a mask right now, I think in four, six, eight weeks we could bring this epidemic under control."
Earlier this week, CDC published two reports that studied how wearing face-coverings could reduce the spread of the lethal respiratory infection and how the usage of maks was easily adopted in some racial and ethnic groups from April to May
To set an example
Meanwhile, elaborating further the CDC chief said that it was “heartening” to see more and more people wear masks.“I am glad to see the president and the vice president wear masks this weekend”. Highlighting that the leaders need to lead by example, he said that in Trump’s and Pence’s situation, they really did not need to wear masks as they were surrounded by testing, however, they were needed to do that o set an example.
This comes as President Trump recently made another COVID-19 remark that has sparked controversy. The American leader, on July 14, said that decision to make students stay at home for the upcoming academic year is a 'terrible mistake' made by two of the largest school districts in California. Trump while speaking to CBS News slammed the decision to provide only online education for the upcoming term in Los Angeles and San Diego, saying parents and teachers should change the person whosoever is in charge of that 'terrible' decision. Trump's comment came as three southern states recorded a surge in coronavirus cases.
Updated 12:17 IST, July 15th 2020