“But I don’t want to give people the wrong idea: When we look at it on a population basis, this is very, very serious. And the sheer numbers of cases that we see coming through the community will predict for a greater number, overall, of hospitalizations... and deaths,” he said.
Dr. De Alba and Dr. Rupp both urged special attention to preventative measures right now, like wearing masks that fit properly — or wearing cloth masks over medical paper masks — anytime you’re around others, not just when you feel symptomatic because most people are contagious at the beginning of their sickness and often before they have symptoms.
And of course, N95 and KN95 masks work even better.
But when any of those masks get moist or start to tear, you want to get a new one, Dr. Rupp said.
Good hygiene and hand-washing will also help, but surface cleaning isn’t as vital as thought during the earliest days of the pandemic.
“It’s a respiratory disease,” he said.
