Pa. residents asked to wear masks in public

By Megan Guza 

Trib Total Media

Pennsylvania officials have asked all residents to wear a mask if they must leave the house — though they asked that they leave medical-grade masks for medical professionals.

It’s a change in course by Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.

Levine stressed that staying at home is still the most effective way to stay protected, but if you need to go out for food or medication, “then wearing a mask or even a bandanna could be an extra layer of protection.

“You do not need a surgical mask or an N95 mask,” she said. “We have to save those for our first responders and health care personnel who are on the front line in the battle against this virus.”

She warned that donning a mask is not a pass to visit friends or socialize.

“A mask is one more tool in our toolbox to protect ourselves against covid-19,” she said.

Wolf said a mask will not necessarily protect the person wearing it, but it will keep them from spreading the virus if they have it an are unaware or asymptomatic.

“They don’t do a great job of keeping people from getting sick, and they’re not foolproof,” he said.

Homemade masks protect everyone else from droplets created by the wearer. It’s important that as many people as possible wear masks when leaving home. 

He reiterated Levine’s message that staying home is the priority, and the mask is for when one must leave home.

“Wearing a mask might help us cut down the possibility that we might infect an innocent bystander — like that grocery store cashier or the pharmacist or someone stocking shelves,” he said. “These folks are keeping us alive by getting us the supplies we need. We owe it to them to do everything we can to keep them safe, and right now that means wearing a mask.”

Levine also cautioned that the change in course regarding masks does not mean the dynamics of the virus itself have changed. She said the understanding of how masks could mitigate the spread has evolved.

“What’s changed is the views of the public health community … about the utility of the whole community using masks,” she said. “My mask protects you, and your mask protects me.”