Jerome Adams warned that if people stockpile masks it leaves fewer available to healthcare providers who need them as they care for infected patients.
The CDC advises people to avoid close contact with sick people; avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth; staying at home when you are sick and covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue and throwing the tissue in the trash.
The viral outbreak, which began in China, has now infected more than 86,000 people globally and killed more than 2,900, mostly in China's Hubei province. President Donald Trump spoke at a news conference moments after the death was announced, saying the patient was a woman. But Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, later said on Twitter that the CDC had mistakenly told Trump in an earlier briefing that the victim was a woman.
There are 66 cases of coronavirus in the U.S. including those who were repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was docked off Japan's coast, according to the CDC.
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