It may be time to upgrade your face mask, or to start wearing two of them, as medical officials believe it provides more protection against more contagious coronavirus strains.
According to the Washington Post, there is currently debate over whether Americans should be encouraged to wear two masks at the same time or whether high-end masks, which should normally be reserved for health care workers, should be made available to the public. Some officials are concerned that encouraging the widespread use of KN95 and N95 will deter people from wearing masks due to discomfort.
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Just need to say that after hearing how my dad struggled with the disease, and seeing friends lose parents to it, I think it’s safe to say catching COVID is probably a little more uncomfortable than taking an N95 -mask to wear.
Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Washington Post that he advocates the use of higher-quality masks by the public. ‘The existence of more transmissible viruses emphasizes the importance of increasing our game and no longer doing the same, but also better. “Yes, it’s confusing to people, but the key is to share what we know when we know it and to be honest about what we do not know,” Frieden told the Washington Post.
Linsey Marr, a professor of engineering at Virginia Tech who researched the effectiveness of masks, told the Post that if people could not obtain a medical grade mask, wearing a cloth mask over a surgical mask can provide a similar protection.
“These standard cloth masks can be about 50 percent effective at protecting yourself,” Marr told the Post. “Maybe it used to be good enough when combined with the removal and trying to avoid being in the indoor spaces.”
Given that we have been in the pandemic for almost a year and that we only now have an administration that takes it seriously, it should come as no surprise that other countries are further ahead in terms of manufacturing and distributing high quality masks. Countries such as Singapore and South Korea have already begun distributing high-quality masks to the public, and several European countries have issued mandates for medical-quality masks to combat the new strain, which is believed to be 70 percent more contagious. . .
Officials told the Washington Post that in the early days of the pandemic, there was an attempt by the Trump administration to get lingerie companies to make at least five masks for every American household, but these plans fell apart because they did. was an attempt by the Trump administration. I mean, one of the complaints about the masks made by the lingerie companies was that they looked like underwear.
So yeah, we’m just going to move on to this trek quote, because I can not deal with the folly.
From the Washington Post:
The CDC encourages Americans to choose well-fitting masks with “two or more coats of washable, breathable fabric” and to avoid surgical masks and other face masks intended for health care workers.
President Biden has adopted masks as a key strategy to end the pandemic, which requires face-covering on planes, at airports and in all federal buildings. But he did not ask for a medical grade mask or mass production of high quality masks.
The CDC and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some public health experts said the federal government needed to certify earlier or make better masks so that Americans would not have to take care of themselves to avoid counterfeits or upgrade their own upgrades.
Among officials, there are concerns that updating the mask policy may be poorly received by the public due to how political the use of masks became last year. The IDP has done an excellent job of convincing half the country that protecting yourself against a new, potentially deadly virus is in some way a violation of their rights. It also does not help that medical officials wear the necessity of a mask during the onset of the pandemic, and experts, including dr. Anthony Fauci, said they were not needed to counter the spread of the disease. the earlier days of the pandemic.
“When you look at leaders and see mixed messages like the ones you’ve seen in the past, you tend to hold on to the messages that make you feel comfortable,” David Abrams, a professor of social and behavioral health, told the University of New York. said the Washington Post.
‘Let’s be honest: it changes very quickly and science makes progress and sometimes we even make mistakes and correct them. There is nothing wrong with that or learning how to do something better. The double masking is a good example of that, ‘Abrams added.
All I can say is this: Black people contracted this disease disproportionately, and COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death for black people last year. I’m no scientist, but if wearing two masks can provide even a little more protection against catching the virus and possibly prevent more black death, your son could double catch for the foreseeable future.
Avoid gatherings as always, wash your hands and wear your mask (s).
Originally published