I am embedded. When is it safe to remove the mask?
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In outdoor concerts, for example, people are often closely tied for several hours and Popescu is more at risk. “Ventilation is important and there’s a lot of ventilation outside, but that can do so much more when you’re on the shoulder with hundreds of people shouting and shouting,” he says.
But I am Healthy and I Take Risk
Aside from the above guidelines, there are two basic factors in deciding whether or not to wear a mask: protecting yourself and protecting others. Unless you’re completely away from everyone and you haven’t done a negative Covid test in the morning, you have to assume that there is always a chance that you will be infected, so that you can infect others.
If you are around people who are at high risk for infection or serious illness (such as people at risk of immunity, unvaccinated children, adults, or someone at high risk), it is safest to wear a mask to protect yourself. In places like grocery stores and pharmacies, even though almost everyone has to go, even if you are in a high-risk group, the thing to consider is to always wear a mask, regardless of local transmission rates, because you don’t know you will be around vulnerable people.
In restaurants, bars, and home gatherings that don’t have to wear masks, it’s up to you to make your own decision. level of risk tolerance. How much exposure risk do you have to not wearing a mask?
“There is no scope for interventions that are important to prevent Covid from being achieved, and there are risk factors for people getting poor results,” he says. Anthony Harris, An epidemiologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “If someone combines these two hierarchies with a subjective risk assessment, that’s how decisions should be made. There are no blacks or whites. “
Aside from local infection rates, you have a number of factors to consider:
- How much could you develop a serious illness if you progress to an infection? If you are around 70 years old or have immune problems, you may be worse off with an advanced infection, even if you don’t die.
- Are others in the area embedded or unincorporated? (If you don’t know, suppose some are uninserted).
- How close are you to others?
- How long are you or how close are you to others?
- How much is the area?
- How ventilated is the area?
The quality of the mask is also important
Keep in mind that not all masks are created equal.
“I encourage people to focus on using a quality mask, which is about adaptation and filtering,” says Popscu. “Ensuring the quality of masks is much more important inside the home.”
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Research and Policy on Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota, has argued for months that Americans wear it better protection rather than fabric masks, as their quality and effectiveness vary greatly. In the first half of 2020, public health experts he discouraged the general public Wearing a N95, KN95 and similar respirator to ensure that health workers have enough. But now, Osterholm says, they have a lot of health workers and other professions that need breathing spaces. There’s no reason why the general public shouldn’t wear it regularly much more effective masks also. If nothing else, tie a medical mask with a cloth mask.
Ventilation, Ventilation, Ventilation
Among the former factors, the latter is among the most important, he says Alex Huffman, An atmospheric chemist who studies bioaerosols at the University of Denver. “It’s safer outdoors than indoors” is the reason that virus particles thrown by others have no chance of being created. They float up and out. Inside is another story.
Aerosols inhaled by an infected person “mix into the room and can form in concentration if there is not enough ventilation,” Huffman says. In a stagnant room where aerosols accumulate, less breathing is required to be able to breathe enough virus to breathe. Room volume also matters, he says.
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