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What Americans should know about preventing coronavirus spread
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The Trump administration is advising the public to stop buying medical masks amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.  

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned on Saturday that widespread purchases by average citizens of the masks creates a burden on healthcare providers.  

"Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!" a tweet from the surgeon general's verified Twitter account said. "They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!"

As coronavirus fears have spiked in the U.S., medical masks have begun to run out in some U.S. cities. Last week was the worst for stock markets in America since 2008.  

a man and a woman walking down a street © Provided by Washington Examiner

The warning from the surgeon general came on the same day Washington state confirmed the first death from coronavirus in the U.S.

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1/49 SLIDES © Nick Pfosi/Reuters
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the government's coronavirus task force, addresses the news at 3M's company headquarters in Maplewood, Minnesota on March 5.
2/49 SLIDES © Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo
Middle school students wear protective masks as they take an entrance examination for high school in Bangkok, Thailand on March 5.
3/49 SLIDES © Leonardo Munoz/Reuters
Medical staff of the Ministry of Health checks passengers' temperature, amid coronavirus outbreak, upon their arrival to El Dorado international airpot in Bogota, Colombia on March 5.
4/49 SLIDES © Vahid Salemi/AP Photo
A city worker disinfects a taxi because of the new coronavirus in Tehran, Iran on March 5. Iran has one of the highest death tolls in the world from the new coronavirus outside of China.
 
5/49 SLIDES © Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo
An employee holds a board to give face mask sales information as people line up to buy face masks to protect themselves from the new coronavirus outside Nonghyup Hanaro Mart in Seoul, South Korea on March 5.
6/49 SLIDES © Mahesh Kumar A/AP Photo
Indians stand in a queue for homeopathy medicine said to help prevent COVID-19, at a government hospital in Hyderabad, India on March 5.
7/49 SLIDES © Seth Wenig/AP Photo
Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco speaks to reporters during a news conference in Fort Lee, New Jersey on March 5. New Jersey now has its second positive test for the new coronavirus.
8/49 SLIDES © Francois Mori/AP Photo
Masked tourist walks by an oil on canvas of 1814 entitled Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques Louis David, at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France on March 5.
9/49 SLIDES © Frank Augstein/AP Photo
Pedestrians wear face masks as they walk at Piccadilly Circus in London, as the public are asked to take precautions to protect themselves from the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak on March 5.
 
10/49 SLIDES © Rachel La Corte/AP Photo
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee talks to the media about the state's coronavirus response efforts on March 5 in Olympia, Washington D.C.
11/49 SLIDES © Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo
People wear masks to protect against coronavirus while visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank on March 5.
12/49 SLIDES © Alaa al-Marjani/Reuters
Passengers wear protective face masks at the airport, following the outbreak of the coronavirus, in Najaf, Iraq on March 5.
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An almost empty British Airways passenger plane flies from Milan to London on March 5, in Milan, Italy. 
14/49 SLIDES © Mussa Qawasma/Reuters
A man wearing a mask as a preventive measure against the coronavirus gestures as he speaks with a Palestinian policeman outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 5. The Church is to temporarily close after a suspected outbreak of coronavirus, the Palestinian health ministry announced.
 
15/49 SLIDES © Aly Song/Reuters
A baby wearing a face mask inside a stroller is seen in Shanghai, China on March 5.
16/49 SLIDES © Rungroj Yongrit/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Thai officials prepare sets of face masks and hand sanitizers for sale at the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) pharmacy in Bangkok, Thailand on March 5. 
17/49 SLIDES © Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters
A man uses his phone to take photographs of posters explaining the symptoms of coronavirus inside hospital premises in Kolkata, India on March 5.
18/49 SLIDES © Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters
Postal workers disinfect packages from overseas to contain the spread of coronavirus in Bangkok, Thailand on March 5.
19/49 SLIDES © Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo
In the aftermath of the state's first death from the coronavirus, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency to deal with the virus at a news conference in Sacramento on March 4.
20/49 SLIDES © Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Getty Images
A man wearing a protective mask walks in Jerusalem, Israel on March 4.
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President Donald Trump, with Vice President Mike Pence, speaks during a coronavirus briefing with Airline CEOs in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 4 in Washington D.C.
22/49 SLIDES © Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Thai monks wearing masks arrive from India at Suvarnabhumi International airport on March 4 in Bangkok, Thailand.
23/49 SLIDES © Zick Maulana/NurPhoto/Getty Images
An Indonesian health worker wearing protective gear inspects quarantine rooms at a hospital in Aceh, Indonesia on March 4.
24/49 SLIDES © Marco Canoniero/LightRocket/Getty Images
Juventus stadium closed to fans for 30 days, due to the Italian government's decision to play matches in the Italian Serie A championship without fans, to contain the spread of the coronavirus in Torino, Italy on March 4.
25/49 SLIDES © Spencer Platt/Getty Images
A couple shops with surgical masks as fears of the coronavirus spreading through the U.S. increase on March 4 in New York City.
26/49 SLIDES © Juan Diego Montenegro/Picture Alliance/Getty Images
An employee of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health wearing a mask and protective clothing takes a man's temperature on March 4.
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Army soldiers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant as a precaution against coronavirus at a shopping street in Seoul, South Korea on March 4.
28/49 SLIDES © Harish Tyagi/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Indian security guards wearing protective masks stand inside a private school that was closed over fear of a coronavirus outbreak, in Noida, India on March 4. The school was closed after some students and teachers attended the birthday party of a boy whose father tested positive for COVID-19 after traveling back from Italy.
29/49 SLIDES © Heo Ran/Reuters
Employees from a disinfection service company sanitize a KTX train at Seoul Railway Station on March 4.
30/49 SLIDES © STR/AFP/Getty Images
A medical staff member checks information of a patient as patients infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus leave from Wuhan No. 5 Hospital to Leishenshan Hospital, the newly-built hospital for the COVID-19 coronavirus patients on March 3.
31/49 SLIDES © Corinna Kern/Reuters
Paramedics in protective suits and Israelis wearing masks and gloves stand near a dedicated polling station where people under quarantine from the coronavirus can vote in Israel's national election, in Tel Aviv, on Mar. 2.
32/49 SLIDES © David Ryder/Reuters
Harborview Medical Center's home assessment team, including (L to R) Michelle Steik, Lucy Greenfield, and Krista Reitberg prepare to visit the home of a person potentially exposed to novel coronavirus, at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington on Feb. 29.
33/49 SLIDES © Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images
Health workers wearing protective gear check Nepali citizens evacuated from China as they are under quarantine following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, in Nepal, on Feb. 29.
34/49 SLIDES © Jean-Claude Coutausse/Reuters
French government officials, including French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (1st-L), French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire (2nd-L), French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe (3rd-L), French Health and Solidarity Minister Olivier Veran (4th-L) and French President Emmanuel Macron (3rd-R) attend a defense council concerning the coronavirus outbreak, in Paris, France, on Feb. 29.
35/49 SLIDES © Borja Suarez/Reuters
A tourist affected by coronavirus is transferred to a hospital from the hotel H10 Costa Adeje Palace, which is on lockdown after novel coronavirus has been confirmed in Adeje, on island of Tenerife, Spain, on Feb. 29.
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Employees work on the production line of an antimalarial drug that Chinese officials said has curative effect on the novel coronavirus disease, at a pharmaceutical company in Nantong, Jiangsu province, China, on Feb. 27. 
37/49 SLIDES © Liu Zhongjun/China News Service/Getty Images
Doctors at West China Hospital of Sichuan University use 5G technology to diagnose COVID-19 patients on Feb. 27, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province of China. 
38/49 SLIDES © Edgard Garrido/Reuters
Hugo Lopez-Gatell Ramirez, Mexico's Undersecretary of Health Prevention and Promotion, holds a news conference on information about the new coronavirus, in Mexico City, on Feb. 27.
39/49 SLIDES © Jose Castillo/AFP/Getty Images
Passengers remain onboard the MSC Meraviglia cruise ship in Cozumel, Mexico, on Feb. 27.  A cruise carrying 6,000 people which was turned away by Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after a crew member tested positive for flu, has docked in Mexico. 
40/49 SLIDES © Lisi Niesner/Reuters
Policemen guard the entrance of a school, after authorities put the school under isolation because of suspicions of a coronavirus case, after a teacher returned from a travel in Northern Italy, in Vienna, Austria on Feb. 26
41/49 SLIDES © Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan is seen on a screen as he delivers the annual budget at the legislative council in Hong Kong on Feb. 26. Hong Kong's government said it will give a 10,000 HKD (1,280 USD) handout to seven million permanent residents in a bid to jump-start a recession-hit economy after the coronavirus outbreak.
42/49 SLIDES © Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters
Figures depicting the coronavirus vs "carneval virus" are pictured during the "Rosenmontag" (Rose Monday) parade on Feb. 24 in Duesseldorf, Germany.
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A man collects bags of his food order as a worker places it in a basket to prevent human contact following the coronavirus outbreak, in Beijing, on Feb. 23.
44/49 SLIDES © Phoonsab Thevongsa/Reuters
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers pose during an emergency meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the coronavirus outbreak in Vientiane, Laos, on Feb. 20.
45/49 SLIDES © Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
A man holds a Ukrainian state flag during a protest against the arrival of a plane carrying evacuees from China's Hubei province hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the village of Novi Sanzhary in Poltava region, Ukraine, on Feb. 20.
46/49 SLIDES © Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images
A Chinese tourist (front right), who was tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus and was isolated for treatment, receives a kiss from Sri Lankan Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi and medical staff after she was discharged from the hospital near Colombo on Feb. 19. The 43-year-old woman, the first and only COVID-19 patient in Sri Lanka, was admitted to the hospital on January 25 and tested positive for COVID-19 two days later.
47/49 SLIDES © STR/AFP/Getty Images

Workers go about their duties at a section of the Leishenshan Hospital, the newly-built makeshift hospital for novel coronavirus patients, in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on Feb. 18. The first group of patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus was discharged from Leishenshan Hospital on Feb. 18, according to local media. 

48/49 SLIDES © John Amis/AP Photo
Jay Butler, Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases addresses the media about response to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19 ) as Senior Adviser Ed Rouse looks on, at the Emergency Operations Center inside The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on Feb. 13 in Atlanta.
49/49 SLIDES © Alissa Eckert, Ms; Dan Higgins, MAM / CDC/ HANDOUT / Reuters

The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China, is seen in an illustration released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, on Jan. 29.

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President Trump said the woman who died from the coronavirus was in her 50s and was a high-risk patient. Officials said the risk to the American public at large remains low.

"The average American does not need to go out and buy a mask," Vice President Mike Pence, who was appointed to lead the administration's response to coronavirus, told reporters at the White House.

Trump said 22 patients in the U.S. have coronavirus, including four who are "very ill." This is in addition to the 44 cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

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