Press Release
Public Health

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Everyone Can Use Cloth Masks as a Tool to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19

Kittitas County, WA - 04/22/2020 - The Kittitas County Incident Management Team requests that everyone use cloth masks as a tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Any time an individual cannot maintain a physical distance of six feet, the individual should be wearing a cloth mask.

According to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), wearing a cloth mask helps reduce the release of infectious particles into the air. Wearing cloth face coverings will not prevent spread of COVID-19 without doing other protective measures, such as washing your hands and maintaining physical distance. This recommendation is for cloth face coverings only, not medical-grade masks or respirators.  Additional information about masks can be found at https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/ClothFacemasks.pdf.
 
“Everyone out in public who is at the grocery store or hardware store or pharmacy should be wearing some kind of cloth face covering,” states Dr. Mark Larson.  “As we reopen in the future after Stay Home, Stay Healthy ends, we have to use the tools available to us to prevent the continued spread of COVID-19. People should prepare now, for wearing cloth masks in public until enough people have received a COVID-19 vaccination to stop the spread of this disease.”
 
“Our world is going to continue to look different and we want people to be coping and thinking about these changes for the future,” states Dr. Larson.  Beyond everyone wearing cloth masks, additional changes are the use of floor markings to provide examples of physical distancing, Plexiglas or plastic barriers in front of customers, increased access to handwashing and/or hand sanitizer, and increased surface cleaning.
 
DOH has additional resources available on their website via Novel Coronavirus Outbreak 2020 (COVID-19) information.  Cloth face covering information is available in English and Spanish along with directions on how to make a homemade mask.  Please do not use medical grade masks.  “Kittitas County even has a volunteer group, the Kittitas County Mask Makers, who are providing mask donations in our county,” states Dr. Larson.
 
Please continue to watch our county website along with our Facebook page for more information.  Questions about your health should be directed to your local healthcare provider or you can call the Temporary COVID Clinic at KVH at 509-933-8850.  For general COVID-19 questions, the Emergency Operation Center is at 509-933-8315 or 509-933-8305.
 

• Everyone Can Use Cloth Masks as a Tool to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19.pdf
• Todos pueden usar máscaras de tela como herramienta para prevenir la propagación de COVID-19.pdf

Kittitas County, from the Cascades to the Columbia, and online at http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us

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Contact: Kasey Knutson, Public Information Officer, 509-962-7515

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