Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, affirmed that the federal Government is not against the use of mouth cover but to use it as the only measure to prevent the spread of Covid-19, so he reiterated the call to stay home and frequent hand washing.
“At no time has the Government of Mexico, or in particular the Ministry of Health, said that do not use mouthguards. We do not reject it, if there are state governments that have proposed the use of mouthguards, that is fine, the only important thing is that it is not taken as a main measure to control the epidemic by Covid, “he said.
Through social networks, López-Gatell published a video in which he explains that using mouth masks is not a substitute for measures such as staying at home, keeping a healthy distance and washing hands to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
“Using face masks as an auxiliary measure to prevent # COVID19, does not mean that millions of people can occupy public space in the Phase 3 of the epidemic, when higher levels of transmission and occupation in hospitals are calculated. The most important thing is # QuédateEnCasa “, he wrote.
In the video, he emphasized that wearing face masks can help decrease transmission, but particularly from people who already have symptoms, to others.
“But the most effective measure is to stay at home, this helps us so that millions of people are not in the public space and that they are not infecting each other,” he said.
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He stressed that while a mouth mask can be an auxiliary or an element that complements it, a poorly used one can contribute to false confidence.
“The person has a mask, he feels that he is protected and then he goes out into the street in situations that should not go out, he lives with others not keeping a healthy distance, having symptoms is in contact with other people and does not protect his sneeze. The mask can be an element complementary, but the most important thing is to stay at home so as not to spread “, he highlighted.
He added that the mask should be worn all the time and cover the nose and mouth perfectly because if the user gets tired of it, becomes hot, or irritated and takes it off to put it on the neck, as a hat, or constantly touch it, that makes it useless or even harmful.
“A person who has hands contaminated with the Covid virus, if you touch your face mask, it will contaminate it. If you want to use a mouth mask, do it, just be very aware that it must be used correctly and that it does not reduce the risk of getting it if you he does not wash his hands continuously, if he goes out into the public space or is in too close physical proximity to someone who has the disease, “he stressed.
Use mouthguards as an auxiliary measure to prevent # COVID19It does not mean that millions of people can occupy public space in phase 3 of the epidemic, when higher levels of transmission and occupation in hospitals are calculated. The most important is #Stay at home. pic.twitter.com/WBcmh2v3u3
– Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez (@HLGatell) April 29, 2020
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