Eleven months after the COVID-19 crisis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published new guidelines and findings on wearing a proper mask to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
Officials at the Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health last week reminded residents of the proper use of masks amid the ongoing pandemic.
“When you wear a mask, remember to wear it properly,” county public health director Van Do-Reynoso said Friday. “Put it on when you’re inside or when you’re very close to others.”
According to the CDC, masks must be worn in addition to being spaced at least six feet apart and hands washed with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
In California, children under the age of 2 are exempt from wearing facials when they are away from home, as well as people with “medical condition, mental health condition, or disability that prevents them from wearing facials,” Department of Health officials say. State public.
Wearing a mask remains a key tool in slowing the spread of COVID-19, according to public health officials.
“Masks are hugely important and will not go away even by vaccinating half the population,” Dr. Henning Ansorg, the county’s public health officer, said recently in an interview with Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli.
“Schools are only safe when they wear masks and maintain social distancing as much as possible, and then they’re pretty safe.”
Ansorg said a mask is perhaps the most important health tool in the fight.
Last week, the CDC offered several tips to improve the defense of masks against the appearance and spread of coronavirus.
A sign outside Tino’s Italian Grocery, at 210 W. Carrillo St. Santa Barbara, warns shoppers to enter masks. (Photo by Brooke Holland / Noozhawk)
“Masks work best when everyone wears them, but not all masks offer the same protection,” the agency said.
The CDC emphasized that a mask “fits perfectly” on the nose, mouth and chin. He suggests wearing a mask with a nasal wire or a metal strip on top of the mask because it prevents air from escaping through the top.
Another recommendation is to use a blender or bracket over a disposable mask or cloth to prevent air from seeping through the edges.
“If the mask fits well, you will feel hot air coming in through the front of the mask and you may be able to see how the mask material comes in and out with each breath,” the CDC said.
Public health officials advised adding at least two layers of material to some masks, which prevents more respiratory drops from entering inside a mask or escaping from a mask. Wearing one face mask on top of the other includes a disposable mask under a fabric mask or wearing a fabric mask with multiple layers of fabric, according to the CDC.
“Make sure you can see and breathe easily,” the CDC advised.
According to the CDC, two disposable masks should not be worn and only one KN95 mask should be used at a time.
“Disposable masks are not designed to fit well and wearing more than one will not improve fit,” said the CDC, which added that people should not mask a KN95 mask with any other. mask.
During the county’s weekly briefing on Friday, Ansorg talked about different mask options.
He said an N95 mask, also called a N95 respirator, is designed for healthcare workers. It fits because masks come in a variety of sizes, he added.
In the early months of the crisis, N95 respirators and other personal protective equipment were scarce, even in healthcare settings.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, we had to ask everyone to refrain from trying to buy them because there was an international shortage, which has since been resolved,” Ansorg said.
“These masks are already available for purchase, but keep in mind that they should fit snugly over your nose with a good seal so that there are no air leaks to provide optimal protection to the person wearing them.”
Procedural masks, also called surgical masks, which are usually white-blue or white, have a metal stripe over the nose for better fit, and do not usually slip like looser fabric masks.
“They were designed to protect my environment from users’ breathing drops, ”Ansorg said. “For example, as a surgeon, you don’t want to contaminate the area of operation.”
He continued, pointing to his own mask: “This is good for protecting my environment from my own breathing drops, however, the protection it gives me from other virus carriers depends on how tight this thing is.”
People usually place a fabric mask over a procedure mask to achieve a tighter fit.
“I leave it to you,” Ansorg said. “Sometimes it can be useful. Some people have been able to fold two of these masks and, therefore, they fit more to the nose, the cheeks and the chin ”.
The CDC recommended knots for the ears of a medical procedure mask to fit more on the face. Take the mask and fold it from edge to edge (in half), then write down the two pieces of the mask ear loop and place and flatten the extra fabric under the edges.
These steps improve mask filtration by up to 20%, 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 urged people to wear masks as long as they were close to others.
Masks are now required for travelers on public transportation, according to the CDC. According to the edict, “people must wear masks that completely cover their mouth and nose while waiting, boarding, disembarking or traveling by plane, boat, ferry, train, subway, bus, taxi and ride-share while traveling, inside or outside the United States and the territories of the United States “.
In California, the use of masks is required statewide and people must wear a mask or mask when they are away from home, with limited exceptions. Click here for more information.
According to the University of Washington Institute of Health Metrics and Assessments, surveys showed that about 75 percent of Californians always wore masks in public in August 2020, and that since then that figure has increased to 81 percent.
When Noozhawk asked him how to properly remove a used mask, Ansorg replied, “It all depends on where you are.”
To remove a procedural mask, Ansorg handled it only by the ear loops and pulled the ear loops.
“If you’re at work or in a restaurant, I would recommend removing your mask without touching the area of your face because otherwise you will contaminate your hands,” he said. “Or when you leave it, you contaminate the surface.
“When you get in the car, alone and take off your mask, it’s not such an important factor.”
He also highlighted the hygiene of the masks.
“We want to avoid touching the mask too much because some secretions, especially when you wear it for another hour at a time, will pass through the material and there will be some moisture on the outside,” Ansorg said. . “And that could be contagious.”
He said cloth masks should be washed “frequently at least once a day.”
Click here for the CDC Masks Guide.
– Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be contacted . (You need JavaScript enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews i @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.