Eleven months after the COVID-19 crisis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released new guidelines and findings on wearing a well-fitting mask to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health officials last week reminded residents to wear the mask amid the ongoing pandemic.
“If you wear a mask, you have to wear it correctly,” Van Do-Reynoso, director of the country’s public health, said Friday. “Wear it when you are inside or when you are close to others.”
According to the CDC, masks should also be worn as if standing at least six feet apart and washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
In California, children under the age of 2 are exempt from wearing face masks outside their homes, as well as people with a “medical condition, mental health or disability that prevents them from wearing a face mask,” say Department of Public Health officials.
Wearing a mask remains, according to critical officials, a critical tool to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“Masks are very important, and they are not going to disappear, not even with the vaccination of half the population,” said Dr. Henning Ansorg, the province’s public health officer, said recently in an interview with Giana Magnoli, managing editor of Noozhawk.
“Schools are only safe if masks are worn and social distance is maintained as much as possible, and then it’s pretty safe.”
Ansorg said a mask is perhaps the most important health tool in the fight.
The CDC last week outlined several tips to improve the defense of the mask against the acquisition and spread of the coronavirus.
A sign outside Tino’s Italian Grocery, 210 W. Carrillo St. Santa Barbara, warns buyers that masks are needed for access. (Brooke Holland / Noozhawk photo)
“Masks work best if everyone wears them, but not all masks offer the same protection,” the agency said.
The CDC emphasized that a mask “snug” fits over your nose, mouth and chin. It is recommended that you wear a mask with a nose wire, or a metal strip on top of the mask, as this will prevent air from leaking from the top.
Another recommendation is to use a masking aid or a mask over a disposable machine or cloth mask to prevent air from leaking around the edges.
“If the mask fits well, you will feel warm air coming through the front of the mask and you can see the mask material moving in and out with each breath,” the CDC said.
Public health officials recommend adding at least two coats of material to some masks, which prevents more respiratory droplets from entering a mask or escaping from a mask. Wearing one face mask on top of another includes a disposable mask under a cloth mask or wearing a cloth mask with multiple layers of material, according to the CDC.
“Make sure you can easily see and breathe,” the CDC said.
According to the CDC, two disposable masks should not be layered on top of each other, and only one KN95 mask should be used at a time.
“Disposable masks are not designed to fit snugly, and wearing more than one will not improve it,” the CDC said, adding that people should not double a KN95 mask with any other mask.
Ansorg spoke on Friday during the country’s weekly newsletter about different options for masks.
He said an N95 mask, also called an N95 respirator, was designed for health workers. It was applied because the masks are in different sizes, he added.
In the early months of the crisis, there was a shortage of N95 respirators and other personal protective equipment, not even in healthcare.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, we had to ask everyone to refrain from purchasing it because there was an international shortage that has been resolved since then,” Ansorg said.
“These masks are for sale now, but note that they must fit very snugly over the nose with a good seal so that there are no air leaks to provide the person wearing them with optimal protection.”
Procedure masks, also called surgical masks, which are usually white-blue or white, have a metal strip over the nose for a better fit and usually do not slip off like loose masks.
“They are designed to protect my environment from the wearers’ respiratory droplets,” said Ansorg. “As a surgeon, for example, you do not want to contaminate the operating area.”
He goes on to point to his own mask: “It’s good to protect my environment from my own respiratory drops, but the protection it offers me against other virus carriers depends on how strictly this thing fits.”
People often place a cloth mask on top of a procedure mask to fit tighter.
“I leave it to you,” said Ansorg. “Sometimes it can be helpful. Some people were able to double two of the masks and thus get a tighter fit around the nose, cheeks and chin. ‘
The CDC has recommended knotting earmuffs from a medical procedure mask to make it fit tighter on your face. Take your mask and fold it from side to side (in half), then tie the two ruffles of the mask, and tuck the extra fabric under the edges and press it flat.
These steps improve the mask’s filtration by up to 20 percent, said Emily Sickbert-Bennett, director of infection prevention at UNC hospitals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in a YouTube video explaining the recommendation.
(UNC Health Video)
The CDC has asked people to wear masks whenever they are with others.
According to the CDC, masks are now needed for travelers using public transportation. According to the edict “people must wear masks that completely cover the mouth and nose while waiting, boarding, boarding or traveling on airplanes, ships, ferries, trains, subways, buses, taxis and driving stock while traveling, within or from the United States and American territories. ”
In California, masks are worn across the country and people have to wear a face mask or mask when they are outside their home, with limited exceptions. Click here for more information.
According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations at the University of Washington, surveys showed that about 75 percent of Californians in August 2020 always wore masks in public, and that it has since risen to about 81 percent.
When asked by Noozhawk how to properly remove a used mask, Ansorg replied: “It all depends on where you are.”
To take off a procedure mask, Ansorg only dealt with the riots and he stretched the riots.
“If you are at work or in a restaurant, I would recommend removing the mask without touching the face, otherwise you will contaminate your hands,” he said. ‘Or if you put it down, you’re polluting the surface.
“If you get in your car yourself and take off your mask, it’s not such an important factor.”
He also emphasized mask hygiene.
“We want to avoid touching the mask too much, because some secretions, especially if you wear them for more than an hour, will seep through the material and there is some moisture on the outside,” said Ansorg. . “And it can be contagious.”
Cloth masks should be “washed regularly at least once a day,” he said.
Click here for the CDC Guide to Masks.
– The author of the Noozhawk staff, Brooke Holland, can be reached (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Get in touch with Noozhawk on Facebook.