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Fresno-area schools are taking steps to protect students and staff from the rapidly spreading coronavirus, but those steps do not include handing out masks on campus.

Why?

The short answer is that masks only help those infected with COVID-19 from spreading it, health officials have said.

Since there is only one person known to be infected in Fresno County, an elderly man who recently traveled on a cruise ship, masks wouldn’t help local public school students.

“CDC, Fresno County Department of Health Services and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) do not recommend using masks unless an individual is showing symptoms, sites are not handing out masks,” said Amy Idsvoog, Fresno Unified’s executive communications officer.

Fresno Unified and Clovis Unified have been working closely with local and state health department officials to know what measures to take to slow down spreading the novel virus.

“It’s a question of when – not if – some California public schools will face closure because of COVID-19. School districts must prepare for these scenarios so that parents and children can plan for what would happen if their local school faced closure,” said Governor Gavin Newsom in a statement released by the California Health Department on Friday.

Fresno County schools at this moment have not announced any school closings or events cancellations. There has been an uptick of sales surrounding antibacterial hand sanitizers and an increase in the price and sales of face masks.

Idsvoog said Fresno school officials are working with students by “reinforcing daily best practices to reduce the spread of germs, including washing hands, coughing or sneezing into the crook of your arm and staying home if you are sick.”

CDPH has released a document of best practices in order to avoid the spread of COVID-19. It recommends if two or more community cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed that teachers and staff with any fever or respiratory infection should stay at home. Additionally it recommended to limit visitors to the school by not allowing those with symptoms, fever, respiratory infection or who have “traveled history over the course of the last 14days to an area identified by the CDC as Level 3 Travel Health Notice.”

As of Monday, there have been 88 positive Covid-19 cases in the state of California. The Department of Health Services has not yet recommended the cancellation of classes. “We are following their recommendations which at this time don’t include canceling classes or activities,” Idsvoog said.

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This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 8:19 AM.