What you need to know about face masks as protection against Covid-19

What you need to know about face masks as protection against Covid-19

by
Sure, everyone is tired of wearing it. But as studies have shown, and as dr. Anthony Fauci has noted many times, masks are the most effective way to protect yourself and others from infection with the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 disease.
“Masks are a two-way street. Masks protect you and me” by preventing the spread of drops and aerosol that the virus may contain, says the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Just because vaccines are here does not mean that Americans should lose their hats. In fact, dr. Richard Besser, former acting CDC director, said it would be “incredibly risky.”

“It is absolutely essential that we continue to take steps beyond vaccination to keep it under control,” Besser said.

The more the virus gets the chance to spread, the greater the risk that it will mutate and appear more variants, as well as the variants first identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.

“And if the vaccines are not as effective against some of these variants, then we can see the gains we are so excited about right now, we can see reversed in a very short time.”

At the beginning of the pandemic we were told not to wear a mask, and to reserve it for those who were ill or for health workers. But that was before scientists understood how the virus was transmitted, and that was at a time when there was a shortage of masks among health workers.

Some people even recommend wearing two masks at the same time.

Here’s what you need to know about masks.

Here’s where masks are needed

President Joe Biden called on everyone to wear a mask when they are in public, and he made it mandatory for federal property. Masks are needed in public transportation and in airports and transit stations.

Most states and some local governments have some sort of mask mandate, and most retailers require buyers to wear it in their stores.

According to the CDC, it is important to note that children under 2 should not wear a mask.

Now, more than a year into the pandemic, Americans may soon be getting standards for masks so we’ll know which masks work best.

ASTM International, an international organization for technical standards, and the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory are working on standards for filter efficiency, size and fit, cleaning and recommended period of use or reuse.

What type of mask should you wear?

N95 masks are the gold standard of masks because they block 95% of large and small particles using an electrostatic filter.
If everyone wore N95 masks in a risky environment for four weeks, it would stop the epidemic, said Dr. Abraar Karan, an internal medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, told CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, said.
Beware of fake N95 masks – they have flooded the market and may not meet safety standards. Look for the NIOSH stamp from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The world's exit plan for pandemic hits a problem
Some health experts are calling for a nationwide deployment of N95 masks, but it is currently reserved for health workers, in part due to a shortage of masks.
KN95 masks also offer good protection, but they are not certified by the US National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. A few manufacturers of KN95 masks have received emergency approval to use them in the health care establishments in the United States.

Surgical masks have three layers and generally offer more protection than cloth masks.

Cloth masks have the advantage of being washable and reusable. Make sure the mask contains at least two layers – the more layers, the better.

“If you wear a cloth mask, it should be a multi-layered mask so that you have multiple layers of potential protection for a single mask,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, told Anderson Cooper and CNJ’s Sanjay Gupta.

Aside from their rarity, N95 masks are “very difficult to tolerate if you wear them for long periods of time,” Walensky said.

“I’m worried that if we suggest or require people to wear an N95, they will not wear it all the time. It’s very difficult to breathe if you wear it properly,” she said.

Do you have to wear two masks?

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently wore two masks, one on top of the other. The CDC has not issued any guidelines on the doubling, but Fauci said it is because it does not yet have scientific data supporting its effectiveness.

“Can we make a general recommendation that is not yet scientific? No,” he said during an information session in the White House. “But if science comes and tells us it’s better or not, then you see a recommendation by the CDC.”

Meanwhile, Fauci said: “There are a lot of people who approach the approach. If you are talking about a physical barrier, and as the CDC recommends, you want at least two layers in the mask as a physical barrier, and you may feel that a physical barrier would be better. ‘

The most important thing to know is that wearing a mask, any mask and keeping your distance from others will help the country out of this pandemic.

“The most important thing is that everyone should wear a mask,” Fauci told Anderson and Gupta.

.Source