courtesy Gallatin Police via FacebookGallatin Police officers hold up cloth masks donated to the department.
Police in Clarksville are among the first to start wearing cloth face masks following new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC has changed course on the use of homemade masks and now suggests wearing them, though primarily for the protection of others and not the person wearing it. Health officials are not recommending use of N95 respirators or surgical masks, so those can be saved for medical workers.
“We see this as an additional layer of protection for the public,” Police Chief Al Ansley said in a statement. “We have to approach people, and we want them to feel comfortable about interacting with our officers.”
Ansley says the department is trying to be “proactive.”
Police in the city of Gallatin, which is facing one of the state’s largest localized outbreaks, have also received donations of hand-sewn masks. But right now, officers are not required to wear them and a department spokesperson says they probably won’t be.
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