Pittsburgh employees will be issued protective masks to wear during the course of their jobs, as recommended by health officials.

Masks will be worn by police, firefighters, paramedics, animal care and control officers, park rangers, and those who work in other city departments, officials said.

“We’ve got to model this practice for everybody else,” police Chief Scott Schubert said in a statement. “If everyone does their part and wears a mask, we might be able to stop this virus even quicker.”

The masks do not prevent the person wearing them from contracting the virus, but they do help reduce the amount of potentially infectious droplets expelled by the wearer, thereby protecting anyone the mask-wearer encounters, officials said.

On Monday, a Pittsburgh Police Academy firearms instructor tested positive for covid-19. On April 1, officials confirmed a firefighter had been diagnosed with the disease.

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