PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It’s hard to believe, given what we now know about the power of masks to prevent COVID-19, but it wasn’t until April 3 of last year — nearly a month into the pandemic — that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended wearing them.
At the time, Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Tom Farley said there was one caveat.
“We’re talking about a cloth mask, not the medical masks that are purchased used for health care workers,” he said. “There is a severe shortage of the medical face masks so we want to reserve that for health care workers that we know are at greatest risk.”
The city website even created a helpful guide to make your own.
Harvard Medical School doctors predicted that if everyone wore masks for four weeks, the pandemic would end. But politics got the better of science in many places.
In the Philadelphia region, though, mask use was high. A New York Times analysis in July showed masking was close to 90% in the city and surrounding suburbs.
In April 2021, Farley’s mask advice has changed slightly. He now recommends medical-grade masks, which have become widely available, or double-masking.
But the essential message is the same: “The best mask is the mask you’ll wear. I’d rather have people wear any mask than no mask at all.”
COVID: Then and Now is a KYW Newsradio original monthlong series looking back at the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in Philadelphia. Reporters revisit the news from exactly one year ago and examine how protocols, restrictions and science have evolved since then.