Thursday CDC issued some "Interim Guidance Issued For The Use Of Facemasks And Respirators In Public Settings During An Influenza Pandemic" and of course there were many news stories. It would seem the guidance wasn't exactly clear, at least judging from what headline writers took away from exactly the same story:
- CDC recommends masks in pandemic
- Masks Might Not Block the Super-Flu
- CDC offers tips on using masks against flu
- Scientists can't mask their opinion
- US Government Issues Facemask Advice For Flu Pandemic
- Consider using masks if flu strikes
- CDC: Masks Not Much Help In Flu Pandemic
- TFAH Calls For Stockpiling Of Masks To Meet Medical Requirements To Prepare For The Threat Of Pandemic Flu
- Will face masks help if super-flu strikes?
- U.S. Issues Guidelines on Use of Face Masks in Flu Outbreak
- Would face masks help during super-flu? Scientists skeptical
- CDC offers advice on citizen use of masks, respirators
- Should people plan to wear medical masks during a pandemic? CDC says maybe
- Don't count on masks to protect in flu pandemic
And of course our personal favorite, the Friday post right here on Effect Measure:
I think we got it just about right.
More like this
It's difficult to believe that it's been over a year since I last wrote a post on the use of masks in the event of an influenza pandemic. Since then, there's been a virtual glut of information out there, and from what I've seen at
Here at ScienceBlogs we have a (very) informal agreement to try to avoid profanity-laden titles. Personally, they don't bother me at all, but I can see the point---there are lots of folks who probably don't want their feed reader to pop up with what I'm about to say.
What do you say when you really don't know the answer to the question, "Should I wear a mask to protect me against bird flu if it becomes pandemic?" Here's the CDC answer:
I enjoy going to news.google.com and clicking on the 'related stories' links to see what different papers say. Mind you, more than the majority of the news articles are off the wire, so there really shouldn't be any major difference in the title. Each periodical has license to put any title they want on it. I'm always amazed at how much license is taken.