Along with vaccine rollouts, the U.S. needs a National Hi-Fi Mask Initiative

[swag]

https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/07/national-hi-fi-mask-initiative-needed-with-vaccine-rollouts/

By Abraar Karan, Ranu Dhillon, and Devabhaktuni Srikrishna

January 7, 2021

Though the first Covid-19 vaccines are now being given to health care workers, other frontline workers, and the elderly in the United States, it will likely be months before enough Americans are vaccinated to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2. And with a more-infectious variant, called B.1.1.7, spreading globally — for which vaccine effectiveness is still unknown — more must be done to prevent as many infections and save as many lives as possible. Wearing a mask can help do that.

Wearing a mask or face covering in two high-risk scenarios can help prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. These include being indoors with others outside of your immediate social bubble, in places like grocery stores, indoor malls, restaurants, churches, public transportation, and the like; and being outside in a crowd.

While most masks provide some level of protection for the wearers and those around them, many masks, including the widely used cloth and surgical masks, only partially filter the small Covid-19-spreading particles known as aerosols that people emit when coughing, sneezing, breathing, and talking. As demonstrated in a recent study, high-filtration (hi-fi) masks like N95 masks are the best protection against these small particles.

As the country awaits the scale up of population immunity through vaccination, we need a National Hi-Fi Mask Initiative to churn out masks that provide more protection from droplets and aerosolized virus particles and also reduce the number of them emitted into the environment by people infected with SARS-CoV-2.

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[OhNo-Really]

1. Had the same thought today

I wear 5 layers on rare trip for condiments

A filter
A cheap surgical
A cloth mask

Face shield

Transparent “Queen’s Umbrella”

Feel like we will all be Bubble Boys soon 🤷🏻‍♀️

This virus seems to make variants often

I wish protective shields could be sent to everyone to wear with existing masks

[Ziggysmom]

3. You are very careful protecting yourself, that's awesome.

My husband has severe COPD and finds the N95 masks worn with his nasal cannula oxygen to be more comfortable than cloth or regular surgical masks. Unfortunately they are more expensive and harder to find. We’ve gotten conflicting answers about reusing the N95. It seems wasteful to discard if you’ve only worn it for an hour or two. Haven’t tried a shield yet; the poor guy already has enough trouble breathing & gets in a panic when he can’t get enough oxygen. But we know if he got COVID it would be awful, so we try to be careful and hope he can get the vaccine soon. Wisconsin where we live is going really slow with the vaccine.

Best to you 😇

[Kablooie]

2. Chinese made KN95 masks are effective.

They aren't approved for US medical use so you're not depriving a medical worker.

They are made to the Chinese medical standard and are nearly as good as N95 masks but beware, there are many cheap KN95 knockoffs that are not up to standards.

For official KN95 masks check this FDA page which lists brands approved for emergency use.
If the mask you buy is on this list it is made to official Chinese KN95 standards. You can find them on Amazon.
The list starts about 1/3 down the webpage.

https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-emergency-use-authorizations-medical-devices/personal-protective-equipment-euas

[CottonBear]

4. There needs to be a national pro-mask wearing campaign

If 95% of people wore masks all the time in outdoor and indoor areas and in vehicles, when outside of their home bubble, the virus could be controlled.

In Spain, the Spanish royal family wear medical masks, even in their car, whenever outside of their home, in accordance with national public health directives. New Zealand and Taiwan also have had great success in controlling the virus. We need a directive and public figures who model the correct behavior and a national public health plan modeled on those of countries which have been successful in COVID19 control.