No, you don’t need to shave your beard to protect against coronavirus, CDC says

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention infographic was related to coronavirus and the CDC recommends that people shave their beards. This story has been corrected.

It’s been reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends shaving your beard in order to protect against coronavirus, along with an infographic on different facial hair types that work with face masks.

It turns out, the beard infographic isn’t related to coronavirus at all and was created for a 2017 CDC post about No Shave November.

The blog post was directed toward people who have to wear face respirators at work and warned that facial hair that crosses the respirator’s seal could prevent the mask from sealing properly and thus allow particles, vapors and gases in through the mask and into the user’s respiratory system.

The CDC doesn’t recommend healthy people wear face masks and says they should only be used by people who have symptoms of coronavirus. The CDC also recommends that health care facility workers and people near others with the virus wear masks.

A CDC infographic shows the different types of facial hair that won’t interfere with a face mask. Side whiskers, soul patches, pencils, toothbrushes, painter’s brushes, zorros, zappas, walruses, chevrons and handlebars work because the hair stays under the face mask.

French forks, stubble, ducktails, verdis, chin curtains, extended goatees, mutton chops, hulihees, fu manchus, englishes, dalis, imperials, van dykes, garibaldis, bandholzes, and circle beards won’t work because they break the seal of the mask, according to the graphic.

People with goatees, anchors, balbos, horseshoes, and villains should be “careful not to cross the seal,” the graphic said.

The CDC has released recommendations and documents on how to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Coronavirus has killed more than 2,600 people and infected more than 80,000 in 37 countries, according to The New York Times.

This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 2:56 PM with the headline "No, you don’t need to shave your beard to protect against coronavirus, CDC says."