Should we wear masks to the grocery store? What coronavirus experts say.

We’re supposed to stay home.

But most people have to venture out at some point to pick up food, medication or to do a job deemed essential.

And in the course of doing so, we’ve all seen folks wearing masks in an attempt to protect themselves from the coronavirus. They make us wonder, should we be wearing a mask, too?

The information on this might be changing soon. A federal official speaking anonymously to the Washington Post said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering changing its guidance to encourage people to cover their faces with cloth do-it-yourself masks — not surgical or N95 masks that are already scarce and needed for healthcare workers. The idea is that covering your nose and mouth would be another way to help flatten the curve.

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

So here’s where things stand now on mask wearing:

Who should wear a mask?

Face masks are in short supply and should be saved for caregivers, the CDC currently says. The CDC’s COVID-19 guidelines cite two reasons to wear a mask — if you are sick or if you are taking care of someone who is sick and can’t wear a mask.

You should wear a face mask if you are sick when you’re around other people and before you enter a doctor’s office. If you can’t wear a face mask — for example, because it affects your ability to breathe — then your caretaker should wear a face mask.

What kind of face mask should you wear?

This is more easily answered by saying, which shouldn’t you wear. Although effective in filtering out at least 95% of airborne particles, the CDC does not recommend that the general public wear N95 respirators because of supply shortages. Healthcare professionals are especially finding them to be in short supply.

If you’re going to wear a face mask, your best choice — to not deplete the supply for healthcare workers — is to make your own. There are tutorials online for sewing or making no-sew surgical-style face masks. A study by Cambridge University, cited by Smart Air Filters, found the best materials you might have around the house to make a face mask from are vacuum cleaner bags, dish towels and cotton blend or full cotton t-shirts. It found that a mask made from a double-layered dishtowel could be as effective as a surgical mask (97%).

How much protection does a mask provide?

It depends on how conscientious the person wearing the mask is of cross contamination and hygiene.

COVID-19 is spread between people who are within about 6 feet of each other thorough respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The droplets can land in the mouth, nose or can possibly be inhaled into the lungs, the CDC says.

“Face masks, which people put over their faces, are effective at preventing bigger droplets from either getting out if you’re coughing or getting in if somebody’s coughing on you," said Department Of Health Medical Director of Communicable Disease Service, Dr. Ed Lifshitz, at a press briefing Saturday. “It’s very important that people who are ill, for example, if they’re around people, wear these masks ‘cause that can prevent them from spewing droplets and infecting other people.”

“The issue about using them routinely is how often are you coming into contact with somebody who’s sick and spewing you with larger particles where that face mask will give you protection?,” he said.

Why shouldn’t you wear a mask?

Lifshitz gave two reasons why people shouldn’t wear face masks during a press briefing on Saturday.

“First, you’ve heard us talk about PPE shortages and so forth, so if all of a sudden we’re saying that everyone in America should be wearing them you’d have that issue and concern,” he said.

His second concern is that people who aren’t used to wearing face masks might be prone to touching and adjusting the mask and then their face, spreading germs the mask may have collected. “When you go to take it off, now I’ve contaminated my hands. Again, if I’m not used to doing this and I don’t use hand hygiene or wash my hands, then I may again infect myself,” Lifshitz said.

Mask or no mask, wash your hands and disinfect often, the CDC says.

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Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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