Masks can help slow COVID-19 spread

The White House is now recommending that Americans wear nonmedical cloth face coverings out in public to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, a reversal of previous statements that it wasn’t necessary for healthy people.

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Fri., April 3, 2020

"Everyone laughed at me, they're not laughing anymore", says Karen Pagliaro as she walks into Yoke's grocery store armed with a bottle filled with a rubbing alcohol mixture and wearing a mask, gloves, a smock and hair net in Liberty Lake on Friday, April, 3, 2020. She suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and is protecting herself from COVID-19.

Kathy Plonka The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
"I'm 63 and have fibromyalgia," says Frieda Berkenbile about wearing a mask to protect herself from COVID-19 near her home home in Liberty Lake on Friday, April 3, 2020.

Kathy Plonka The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Allison Tripp, 28, carries supplies out of JOANN Fabrics and Crafts on March 29 in Spokane. A directive issued Wednesday requires all residents to wear face coverings at indoor or confined public settings when they will be within six feet of another person whom they don’t live with.

Tyler Tjomsland The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
A traveler is seen wearing a protective mask through a TSA security checkpoint on Sunday, March 1, 2020, at Spokane International Airport in Spokane, Wash. A few travelers were seen wearing surgical-style masks in the airport mid-day Sunday, in light of the recent Covid-19 outbreak. Experts say hand-washing is a far mare effective method for preventing transmission

Tyler Tjomsland The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo