CDC Urges Face Coverings to Prevent Spread of COVID-19

New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly urges Americans to wear cloth face coverings in public to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  

The CDC is advising the use of cloth face coverings, not medical grade or surgical grade masks, as N95 respirator masks should be saved for medical professionals. 

Examples of cloth coverings include homemade masks, bandanas, scarves, or wraps. Learn more about the CDC’s recommendations, as well as find simple instructions for sewn and no-sew face coverings. Or if you are a more skilled seamstress, download a pattern courtesy of That’s Sew Tahoe. 

Tahoe Forest Health System is accepting homemade mask donations for use by our employees. If you are interested in sewing masks for distribution to hospital staff, please refer to these instructions and use the pattern on that page. Completed masks can be dropped off in a drop-off box at 10999 Spring Lane, Truckee. Please contact Heather Elledge at [email protected] with questions about mask donations. 

Staying at home and closely following the CDC and State of California guidelines for prevention is the best way to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Truckee/North Lake Tahoe. Masks or cloth face coverings found from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.

The CDC announcement is in response to research about how the virus is transmitted, and with cases of C19 on the rise everywhere including our Truckee/NLT community, there’s evidence that people who aren’t showing symptoms can still be spreading the virus as they move about in public. For more information, visit the CDC website.