In an effort to get every American behind the idea of wearing a face mask – and behind an actual face mask – to carry the spread of Covid-19, the Association of American Medical Colleges on Wednesday released simple, targeted national guidance for the public.
© LM Otero / AP
Amid worries about the spread of COVID-19, Alma Odong wears a mask as she cleans a classroom at Wylie High School in Wylie, Texas. The cost of returning students to classrooms proves to be a major obstacle to the safe relocation of schools in the US (AP Photo / LM Otero, File)
“These guidelines are intended to provide everyone around the country with a uniform approach to wearing face masks and to correct the often conflicting messaging and misinformation there,” said Drs. Atul Grover, executive director of the AAMC Research and Action Institute released in a news release.
“Until we develop a vaccine and better therapeutics, prevention is the key to reducing the impact of this pandemic,” Grover said. “The faster we make face masks than our ‘new normal’, the faster we can get control of Covid-19.”
Grover told CNN that face masks protect everyone – you and the other person. “If you carry it and the people around you carry it, we’ve seen that transmission [of the coronavirus] probably drops in the 90% plus range, which is pretty good odds, “he said.
The AAMC – a nonprofit association representing all accredited U.S. and Canadian medical schools, teaching hospitals, healthcare systems, and academia – has compiled its new guidelines with the latest scientific information and studies on mask use from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. , state and local governments and public health experts.
What masks to wear
The guidelines state that face covering should cover both your nose and mouth and should be well-fitted to minimize holes around your nose and chin; cloth face masks should have at least two layers, and if possible three layers; loosely folded face covers and bandana-style covers are better than no covers, but can get the slightest aerosolized respiratory drops in the air.
When you wear masks indoors
Wearing a face mask “is critically important” when you are indoors, because super-spreader events are much more common indoors, according to the guidelines. Therefore, the guidelines note that face covering should be worn by anyone 2 years of age and older as well as inside and around people who do not live in their household. All companies open to the public must insist that all customers wear masks when they are indoors, the guidelines say.
When to wear masks outside
When you are outside, the safest option for anyone 2 years and older is to wear a mask, even if you are walking short by others, such as walking or being run over by someone on the sidewalk, according to the guidelines. If you are outdoors and do not expect to be with others, masks are not necessary. Avoid non-essential activities and meetings that bring people within 6 feet of each other or cause a stronger breathing, such as sports or singing, with or without face mask.
‘There really is no harm in this’
“We have had many different sources on conversations about very similar things, but in a way that has not necessarily been accessible to the general public, and we hope that this is in a format that will now be easier to understand and very simple. : if you’re all inside with people who are not part of your household, you should wear a mask, and outside, if you’re potentially around people who are not part of your household, are within six feet, you should should be wearing a mask, “Grover said.
To those who say that masks are uncomfortable, Grover acknowledged that they are not uncomfortable for him either. “I would say, ‘You’re right.’ … But there are things we all do to take normal precautionary measures; I do not wear a belt most of the time – I do not try to shrink my clothes; it is uncomfortable – but it is the law, and we also know that it saves lives … It’s a pro-and-con risk and there’s really no harm to it except that discomfort. ”
To those who worry that you are introducing the air you just expelled, you will get your carbon dioxide poisoning, Grover said, no. “You can find videos of many doctors and nurses and respiratory technicians putting on 1, 2, 3, 4 – or even 10 – masks [who are] practice, talk and show that their pulse oximetry does not read decrease. “There have been no reports yet of the life of someone who is in danger of wearing a mask,” he stressed.
And to the skeptics, Grover said the evidence is strong. “We have pretty good evidence now. We might not be able to find up to the 10th or 15th decimal point range of how much your risk is reduced, but we know your risk is reduced. And wearing a mask will reduce your risk without your risk. to increase damage. ”
Simply put, “We know this will benefit you, we know it will benefit the people around you,” Grover said. “It has to become the new normal.”
Video: New CDC Guidance on Masks (CNN)
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