Question: Why does the US not recommend wearing face masks?

Answer: After hearing CDC’s Dr. Nancy Messonnier state on multiple occasions that we should not be buying or using face masks if we are healthy, while simultaneously seeing so many people in China, Japan, and South Korea wearing masks, I became curious about this too! First off, CDC’s guidance is: 1) people who are well should not wear a face mask; 2) people who are sick should wear a face mask when in public or interacting with others in order to minimize virus spread and protect others; 3) health care providers should wear a face mask to protect their patients and protect themselves. So there’s the background. What’s the evidence? Most of the evidence is outlined in CDC’s 2017 report, Community Mitigation Guidelines to Prevent Pandemic Influenza and what’s shown in the report (recommendations from which are copied below) is that there is limited data on protective effects of mask wearing among healthy people. Couple that with the fact that we are in a situation where face masks are in high demand and supplies are limited — and it makes even more sense that CDC would caution well people from buying and using face masks. Indeed, CDC just issued Strategies to Optimize Personal Protective Equipment Supply because supply shortages are so critical. So, if you’re living in the US, it’s best to save the face masks for those who are sick and for our health care providers. Now, if you’re living in East Asia, cultural norms will likely mean that you wear a face mask regardless of your underlying health (South China Morning Post published a fascinating article a few days ago on East/West face mask cultural differences). And in response over the last month, China boosted its face mask production capacity by 450 percent!