Wearing a Mask Health Minute (6-25-20)

Wearing a Mask Health Minute (6-25-20)

That's divided americans -- but a new study suggests -- face masks have significantly reduced the number of new coronavirus cases.mandy gaither has more in today's health minute.

<<wearing face masks in public prevented as many as 450- thousand new cases of coronavirus -- according to a new study.that study published online in the journal health affairs -- estimates between 230-thousand and 450-thousand cases of the virus were prevented in the states that enacted requirements for mask use between april 8th and may 15th.researchers say wearing face masks in public -- reduced the daily number of coronavirus cases by as much as two-percent in washington d-c -- and the 15 states that mandated their use -- compared to the states that did not.the longer the mandates were in place -- the higher the reduction in covid-19 cases.

Researchers also looked at 20 states that imposed employee-only mandates but not public mask use -- and did not find a significant impact on the spread of the coronavirus in those states.the study did have some limitations including -- the inability to measure the actual use of face coverings in any community -- and researchers were only able to measure confirmed cases of covid-19 -- despite evidence that infection rates in some communities were higher.for today's health minute, i'm mandy gaither>> in april -- the c- d-c issued new guidelines encouraging cloth face coverings in public places where social distancing measures are hard to