To protect yourself from the new coronavirus variants, which are both more contagious and potentially more deadly than the original, some researchers and public-health experts now suggest that we all wear two masks simultaneously. When asked by Savannah Guthrie on NBC News’ Today if doubling up on masks does a better job of blocking these new variants, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said it “likely does” and that “it just makes common sense that it would be more effective.” According to Dr. Purvi Parikh, an immunologist with NYU Langone Health who was involved in two of the COVID-vaccine trials, “The more layers you have that increase the ply or the filtration of a mask, the better, because you’re blocking more particles and droplets.”
With the U.K. variant now identified in as many as 20 states, double masking is a simple way for anyone to reduce their risk of infection. (Parikh also recommends increasing your social distancing in light of the new variants: “We say six feet as the general marker, but we’ve seen evidence that the virus can spread at ten feet or 12 feet. It all just depends on the size of those droplets,” she says.) If you’re planning on wearing two masks, both Parikh and Dr. Stacy De-Lin, a family-medicine specialist in New York City, say that wearing a double-layer fabric mask on top of a medical-grade mask (like a surgical mask or a KN95) is best for blocking droplets. “The surgical mask will fit more snugly to your face and help protect you more,” De-Lin says, so that goes on first. In her own office, Parikh wears an N95 mask with a surgical mask or a fabric mask over it. The top layer is “to keep my N95 clean and dry,” she says. Since non-health-care workers are discouraged from buying N95 masks, that’s not an option for most of us
A Georgia teacher's obituary pleaded for mask wearing. At a school board meeting, 3 officials refused.
COVID killed Georgia teachers. Cobb County officials didn't wear masks
This is what you need to wear, bsm2.
When you think you have made a procedure idiot proof your company employs a better idiot.
FDA places all alcohol-based hand sanitizers from Mexico on "import alert"
The US Food and Drug Administration has placed all alcohol-based hand sanitizers coming from Mexico on a nationwide "import alert" until the agency is able to review the products’ safety.
"Over the course of the ongoing pandemic, the agency has seen a sharp increase in hand sanitizer products from Mexico that were labeled to contain ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol) but tested positive for methanol contamination," the FDA said in a news release on Tuesday.
According to the FDA, methanol, or wood alcohol, is a substance that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin and can be life-threatening if ingested. This substance is not an acceptable ingredient in hand sanitizer or other any drugs in the United States.
"Consumer use of hand sanitizers has increased significantly during the coronavirus pandemic, especially when soap and water are not accessible, and the availability of poor-quality products with dangerous and unacceptable ingredients will not be tolerated," said Judy McMeekin, FDA Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs.
From April through December 2020, the FDA found that 84% of the samples that were analyzed were not in compliance with the FDA’s regulations.
More than half of the samples were found to contain toxic ingredients, including methanol and/or 1-propanol, at dangerous levels.
This is the first time the FDA has implemented a countrywide import alert for any drug product. Under this import alert, alcohol-based hand sanitizers from Mexico will be subject to heightened scrutiny, and the FDA may detain the shipments.
... he recommendations are sensible. No vaccine is a 100% guarantee that you are safe from the virus nor that you can be a asymptomatic carrier.
A person who gets the vaccine maybe asymptomatic. It takes a few days for the virus to become partially effective, It could be another 30 days+ before a person gets their 2nd vaccine. There are now mutations of COVID-19 and no one really knows how effective the current vaccine is against them.
Long story short, expect to wear masks for years to come.
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