BOSTON — President Donald Trump’s positive test underscores the risks coronavirus still poses for all Americans.
During Tuesday’s debate, Trump said he wears a mask only when he feels he needs to, and mocked Joe Biden for his mask use.
Instead, the president said he practices social distancing and ensures the people around him are routinely tested.
“I think masks are OK. You have to understand, if you look — I mean, I have a mask right here. I put a mask on when I think I need it,” he said during the debate.
Two days later he tested positive for the virus. Masks are not required in the west wing and throughout the pandemic Trump’s closest advisers and family are often photographed without them.
“In a lot of ways, this seemed fairly inevitable given the behavior we’ve been seeing,” said Dr. Eleanor Murray, an epidemiologist at Boston University’s School of Public Health.
She says masks are the best way to keep infected people from spreading the virus.
“The main use of masks is really to sort of catch your infectious particles. It’s still possible to get infected, even if you diligently wear a mask. But we do know that they do help,” she said.
Murray added that while social distancing is important and goes together with mask use, the current six feet rule should be revisited.
“This is something a lot of scientists have been calling for, for a while, to rethink this idea,” she said. “If you’re going to be indoors in an enclosed environment with a group of people for a prolonged period of time, you are at risk for being infected, even if you stay further than six feet apart from those people.”
She believes the president would have likely been contagious for up to two days prior to his positive test. That means anyone he had contact with at Tuesday’s debate or Wednesday’s rally in Minnesota could be at risk for exposure.
“All of those people are potentially infected, and risk spreading the infection onwards,” said Murray. “If President Trump had been wearing a mask this whole time it would be less of a risk for all those other people.”
Murray recommends at least 10 feet of social distancing if spending any amount of time in a closed room or in one with poor ventilation.
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