N95s, which seal tighter to the face, offer better protection against Covid-19, studies show
Emanuel said that Massachusetts General Hospital recently requested his daughter to replace her N95 with a surgical mask when she went for a checkup. The facility cited quality control but “their ‘high quality’ was worse than the quality of the mask she was wearing,” he said.
The facility told POLITICO that it follows CDC guidance, and in late January started allowing patients to keep wearing N95s as long as they layer a hospital-provided surgical mask on top. The hospital’s associate infection control head, Erica Shenoy, said the hospital’s staff wear surgical masks alone, which she called “perfectly safe” and effective against Covid. The hospital doesn’t provide N95s, she said, partly because they are “more uncomfortable.
While daily infections are down roughly 95 percent from their January peak, Covid-19 can still be deadly for the elderly, vulnerable or immunocompromised patients who find themselves in the hospital. And infections of healthy, vaccinated people can also lead to long Covid, an array of barely understood, potentially debilitating medical conditions that can last for months to years.found that more than 3,000 patients were infected with Covid each week in January, during the Omicron wave.
Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease specialist who advises the Biden administration, said there is “no doubt” that the lack of the more-protective face masks contributed to those grim totals. Osterholm wrote to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and other senior officials shortly after the inauguration, urging the CDC to recommend N95s for all workers.Advocates for those with disabilities and the immunocompromised have pleaded with the administration to recommend N95s for everyday use in indoor public places. The CDC declined to do so and acknowledged in January that cloth masks provide less protection than surgical masks or N95s.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Covid-19: One Covid-related death and 463 in hospitalThe total number of deaths linked to the virus reported by Stormont's Department of Health is 3,253.
Read more »
Covid-19: Five Covid-related deaths and 506 in hospitalThe total number of deaths linked to the virus reported by Stormont's Department of Health is 3,258.
Read more »
Barack Obama Reveals Positive COVID-19 DiagnosisFormer President Barack Obama has revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19. “I just tested positive for COVID,” he wrote in a March 13 tweet. “I’ve had a scratchy throat for …
Read more »
Former President Barack Obama tests positive for COVID-19Former President Barack Obama has tested for positive for COVID-19, he announced on Twitter on Sunday.
Read more »
Scientists prepare for 'anthropulse' as COVID-19 travel restrictions easeA leading ecologist from the University of St Andrews calls for coordinated action to investigate the environmental impacts of humanity's emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more »