Positive COVID cases are rising in Dutchess County at an alarming rate, and the threat of the UK, and perhaps other, more infectious variants are on the horizon if not already here. While the vaccine roll-out has begun, it is anticipated it will take months to get enough people vaccinated to reach herd immunity.
To keep us all safe during this period, we need the County to step in and help us, and that includes help with masks. Here’s how:
– Identify legitimate N95 and KN95 masks;
– purchase them in bulk (using a public/private partnership or some other funding vehicle if County funds cannot cover this); and
– distribute them to all County residents with instructions explaining why these masks provide the best protection and how to wear and care for them.
Here’s why this is important, and necessary:
In my observation, most Dutchess County residents are trying hard to comply with the mask requirements currently in effect. There are at least two problems with their efforts: the quality of many of the masks, and the need for constant reinforcement on how to wear masks properly. Here are two examples—I am sure there are thousands more:
– I recently went to my local pharmacy to pick up a prescription. The young woman doing check-out had an ill-fitting cloth mask that she was unable to keep above her nose.
– Not long ago I had a medical appointment at my ambulatory care facility. A member of the staff charged with disinfecting high-contact surfaces like doorknobs was wearing his mask below his nose.
While it is anticipated that President-elect Joe Biden will impose a mask mandate for 100 days, it’s not enough to keep our County residents safe during what is likely to be a period of months. In the meantime, we need access to better masks, along with repeated reinforcing instructions on how to wear and care for them.
As stated in a recent article:
Fixing this problem is more urgent now that a new variant of the coronavirus, known as the B.1.1.7 lineage, is making its way around the world. This variant is believed to be about 50 to 70 percent more transmissible than earlier strains of the virus. Masks are an important part of the battle against this new variant because they decrease transmission by reducing the number of infectious particles spread by a mask wearer (known as “source control”) and by reducing the amount that a mask wearer inhales. The cloth masks that we focus on in our paper do a good job at source control, but on their own they do not protect the wearer as well as medical-grade respirators do. [from Why Aren’t We Wearing Better Masks?]
While higher quality (N95 and KN95) masks are now available to the general public, the market is currently a wild west, with no application of standards, lots of fakes, and hours of research needed to ascertain which are bona fide and which are not, if even then it can be ascertained.
As one example, local Lowes stores are selling “NIOSH-approved” N95 masks manufactured by Dasheng. They may be legitimate, but it’s not easy to check, and if you find your way to the CDC website, it states
Based on the COVID-19 response and numerous inquiries regarding potentially noncompliant NIOSH-approved N95 respirators, NIOSH is issuing this notice to alert users about potential counterfeit products. Specifically, NIOSH is concerned about FFRs misrepresented as “Shanghai Dasheng,” “Dasheng,” or “Raxwell” NIOSH-approved N95 respirators. [from NIOSH Respiratory Protective Device Information, April 2020]
As noted in the article previously quoted:
Tragically, America is swamped with fraudulent medical-grade masks, some of which are only 1 percent effective. Many masks do not have labels clearly indicating their manufacturer. Some official mask-testing methods are inappropriate, including the use of far higher pressure than normal breathing exerts. No reasonable certification is available for the most useful masks generally available to the public. All of this means that everyone has to somehow figure out for themselves which masks are effective. [from Why Aren’t We Wearing Better Masks?]
I hope the County will give this proposal its serious consideration. The safer we each are able to be, the safer we all will be during this critical period.
Sources:
Why Aren’t We Wearing Better Masks?, The Atlantic, January 13, 2021
NIOSH Respiratory Protective Device Information Updated April 20, 2020, Subject: Information regarding Shanghai Dasheng Health Products Manufacture Co., Ltd. (SDH) filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) with ear loops and labeled as NIOSH-approved
Listing of NIOSH-Approved N95 Masks may be found at “NIOSH-Approved Particulate Filtering Facepiece Respirators”
Other Resources:
Along with vaccine rollouts, the U.S. needs a National Hi-Fi Mask Initiative, Stat, January 7, 2021
We Need Better Masks, Harvard Business Review, June 18, 2020
Still going to the grocery store? With new virus variants spreading, it’s probably time to stop. Vox, January 15, 2021
C.D.C. Warns the New Virus Variant Could Fuel Huge Spikes in Covid-19 Cases NYTimes ,January 16th, 2021
Dutchess County COVID statistics from Covid Act Now.
Eric Topol , Scripps, on Twitter
Twitter Feed of Dr. Tom Friedan
Contact Information for Dutchess County Legislature
Dutchess Legislature Democratic Caucus
Text: Susan Scheid
Image from Dutchess County Community Impact Dashboard
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Thank you for this thoughtful and important blog post. I'm now double masking (disposable white paper ones with metal over the bridge of one's nose plus large cloth one made by a friend) when I need to be in close proximity (like a store) with other human beings. When I am outside walking I just use the large cloth one — and cross the street when I see another human being approaching. On a purely geographic note, do you live in the Dutchess county through which I used to take the commuter rail from Dover Plains to NYC and back again?
Double masking has to help. Can't believe we are still in this "make-do-and mend"- mentality one year into a deadly pandemic. Yes - Dutchess - but closer to the MetroNorth Hudson Valley line as opposed to the Harlem Valley /Dover Plains line. But often go over that way. Cheers Will!
Well written. At least Biden understands the role of a federal government during a national crisis.
I've been wearing a coffee filter under my 2 layer cloth mask and I think it works well for those who are only occasionally in contact with others. But those who work with the public need both better protection and proper instructions on wearing it.
You are to be commended for fashioning a mask on your own that provides some protection. The key point here is that neither you nor anyone of us should be trying to figure this out on their own without any help from government, which by and large, to date, has pushed efforts at compliance on masks down to the lowest level, without offering any guidance, let alone provision of masks that are certified as protective of both individuals and others. At this point in the pandemic, and with more virulent strains already present in the US, it's no longer acceptable to leave individuals on their own to figure this out. The article cited, "Why Aren't We Wearing Better Masks?" does a good, clear job of making the case. Dr. Topol, Dr. Frieden, Andy Slavitt (who has been a longtime proponent of "Masks4All" legislation at the federal level, thankfully, is now on Biden's team) and many others who are experts in this area are calling for N95/KN95 masks to become the standard--and to be provided to everyone. There is no reason why state and local governments, in public/private partnership or any number of other methods of funding, cannot step up on this and help us all be safe through the vaccine roll-out period and beyond.
There's no reason why they can't do a lot of things. But since they are not, I was just offering a suggestion that has worked for me. I'm also supposedly eligible for the vaccine (age 69), but have been unable to schedule an appointment. I haven't figured out a substitute for that.
As far as I am aware the UK has done the work on tracking variants so it looks like it's a UK variant when it is actually mutating everywhere. Not that that is consoling! As to masks well you never see the sort of masks you describe except on tv about NHS. Certainly the politicians and "scientists" are not demonstrating them.There are also people who simply resent wearing a mask or dont believe the news...bottom line is all govts need to stop the PR version of " news" that they have tradition of using simply for their own betterment and instead provide honest advice that actually helps people and situation.Lies lies lies undermine all confidence and we are all going to pay the price. A brilliant article.
Dierdre: Thanks so much for writing about the experience in the UK. You are absolutely right to point out the B.1.1.7 is present all across the world, with community spread already identified in the US, Canada, and many places in Europe, if not elsewhere. You are spot on as well to note that all too many elected officials and "news" outlets are not leading on this and educating the public about what they need to do and why, let alone providing them the means to do it. It's why I'm grateful, in this country, for scientists like Topol, Frieden, and so many others for doing their best to sound the alarm. Local governments need to listen and step up. And they need to do it now.
Dierdre: This goes directly to your point about the British scientists who tracked the B.1.1.7 variant down. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/16/world/europe/variant-coronavirus-genetic-sequence.html
And, this is also to your point. Scroll down to figure 8 to see B.1.1.7 spread identified as local transmission. https://cov-lineages.org/global_report_B.1.1.7.html
In the UK there is almost no discussion of the quality of masks. I am convinced that our situation would not have deteriorated so far had there been a proper procurement of effective masks and instruction in wearing them.
It's inexplicable and inexcusable to me that there have not been guidelines about the quality of masks. It has left people at the mercy of the unregulated market - doing the best they can to scramble to try and keep safe in a crisis. It's a colossal failure of government in its basic duty to care. People have been abandoned and left to their own devices in the biggest health crisis of our times.
The mask situations you describe are common here, too. It seems that some people just can't take on the idea of covering noses, and I've seen quite a bit of media attention here, on the correct way to wear masks. There have been a lot of models showing how far a cough sprays droplets and infection, but I've not seen so much about sneezes. I wonder if that's part of the answer - aside, of course, from shear selfishness and cussedness! Sorry, bit judgmental...
Hi Cath - It's not just the mask behaviour. That ranges from the COVIDIOT refusal through poor compliance to people on their own doing their best to what protects them and others. using the best information available.
It's also the lack of good information on the quality of the masks themselves. Where are the latest guidelines on which masks provide the best protection? How is the general public expected to do the best thing when the government fails in its basic duty to inform, regulate and establish basic quality control? How hard can this be?
Right now we probably have millions of people who think a bandanna provides protection from the virus.