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Should I Wear A Mask In The Car To Protect From COVID-19?

In our series "What's the Risk?" experts weigh in on what risks different scenarios pose for transmitting COVID-19.

Should I Wear A Mask In The Car To Protect From COVID-19?
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When it comes to getting sick with COVID-19, you might be thinking about this, and we have too. Brooke Wylie asks: 

"I went on a walk the other day and saw a bunch of people wearing masks while inside their cars. What’s the risk of driving around in my own car?"

We asked the experts: Dr. Irfan N. Hafiz, an infectious disease physician and Northwest Region chief medical officer for Northwestern Medicine; Katie Cary, vice president of infection prevention for HCA Continental Division; and Dr. Jasmine Marcelin, an infectious disease specialist at Nebraska Medicine.

Their take — contracting COVID-19 in your car is low risk. 

"There's really no need for that. That's extremely low risk to get anything," Dr. Hafiz said. 

"You're in your own environment. I think of it as being very similar to being in your own house. So as long as it is just you, there really is no reason to wear your mask when you're in the car," Cary said. 

"If you're in the vehicle with other people, then especially if they're not people that you live with, then I would probably consider wearing a mask as if you were sitting down next to a person and you couldn't socially distance," Dr. Marcelin said. 

If you have a question about your risk, send us a video to whatstherisk@newsy.com. You can see answers to other questions here