Omicron Precautions: How to choose the best surgical face mask?

Stop rushing to buy more masks or scooping up old ones from the back of your cupboard and ‘listen’ to this before making a decision: According to Dr. Naresh Trehan, the Chairman-MD of Medanta hospital, Gurugram, our standard cloth mask will not do much. The Omicron spreads faster as the R0 factor for Omicron is believed to be 12-18 times higher, creating a cause of concern. As the pandemic and new variants of Covid-19 has taken over society, surgical face masks and other kinds of equipment, like surgical gloves, PPE kits and sanitisers, have become something that everyone should owe in mandate to hold the infection and the life-threatening disease.

surgical face masks

It is noted that masks must be used as a complete strategy of measure to stop or avoid the transmission of the disease and also protect the lives of the individuals.

If covid-19 has the ability to spread in the community, we all should have the capacity to involve the best precautions to contain the spread of the disease. Face masks play an important role in controlling the transmission of disease in society.

Let us have a look at the fundamental tips of how to make use of surgical face masks to stop the spread of this new Omicron virus.

A study suggests that wearing a face mask is more promising than social distancing at deterring you from acquiring Covid from the Omicron variant, according to the Daily Mail. Experimenters have found that using masks could reduce the threat by up to 225 times, in comparison to onlydepending upon the three-metre regulation.

Masks are compulsory in almost every nation in the world during a pandemic, but the jury’s still out on their effectiveness because of the contradictory proof.

The latest study, by a unit of German and US specialists, concluded that using a face-covering gives ‘very high’ protection. It discovered a 90 per cent probability of catching Covid if you are in the periphery of an infected person for five minutes and none of you wears a mask, even if you follow the social distancing norms.

On the contrary, it would take at least 30 minutes for the contamination to spread if somebody was to use a surgical mask, even if it does not hug the face ‘entirely’, the report stated. In the perfect system, where both people use medical-grade FFP2 masks and are standing apart, the possibility of spread is merely 0.4 per cent after an hour.Professionals from the universities of Gottingen and Cornell who did the analysis said their discovery ’causes social distancing not very important’.

It comes behind a major review that found that general mask usage could slash disease rates by 50 per cent, twice the quantity from just social distancing, the report stated further.

Health experts have stated that the best method to avoid Omicron is to use two masks when in a public place and get two doses of vaccination. While a Disposable 3 ply Face mask and an N95 mask would be ideal, those using a cloth mask must have a surgical mask as well, according to the medical professionals.

Though the market has been bombarded with various kinds of masks, medical experts state that most of them deliver limited protection from Covid. According to Dr Nagendra, director of Osmania General Hospital, a Disposable 2 ply Face Mask or N-95 provides the best protection.

The disposable masks can be used for approximately eight hours and the N-95 mask for 24 hours. Unfortunately, after the second wave, most people are pushing around without a mask, which could be fatal. The youth especially need to be notified about the importance of masks and the reach of the virus. We have to be extremely careful with the new variant.

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) released the data stating that the duration required for the infection to transfer from an infected person to a person who is wearing an N-95 mask is 1,667 hours of orientation to an alpha variant of SARS-COV2. If an N-95 mask is well equipped in both subjects, the study suggests that it needs 677 hours of exposure to acquire an infectious dose. Yet, the time needed to get an infectious dose for a person from an infected person if neither is using a mask is 10 minutes.

The duration required grows to 14 minutes with the weaker person using cloth masks, 20 minutes with surgical masks, 50 minutes with an N-95 mask and 16.7 hours if the weak person is using a well-fitted N-95 mask if the infected person is not using any type of mask.

How to use a surgical face mask?

Follow the steps below to take the precautions of wearing the mask.

  1. Clean your hands before you wear a face mask. Not only this, ensure you do the same after wearing the masks.
  2. Your mask must cover your nose, mouth, and chin.
  3. After taking the mask off, you must store it in a plastic bag and throw it in a closed bin if it is a disposable face mask. And ensure that you clean your cloth mask daily after use.
  4. Ensure that you don’t utilise a mask with valves.

Well, these were the measures that one must follow while wearing a facemask. To dodge typical mistakes, take note of certain Do’s and Don’ts.

  • Don’t touch your child’s mask or your mask while it is being worn.
  • Make sure that you don’t leave your nose or mouth uncovered.
  • Make sure that you don’t remove the mask while you are around others or in public.
  • Make sure that you don’t share your mask with family members or friends.

By avoiding these things, you will be able to follow the precautions and take the necessary steps for yourself.

Wearing masks, particularly when you are in close proximity to others, is critical to slow down the stretch of the new Omicron variant. When you might be going out to grocery stores, shopping malls, or in several other public places, you would be noticing people wearing masks in several different styles and taking the concept of wearing the mask quite casually. You might have witnessed people wearing a mask that is dangling from one ear, pulled down below the nose, or resting on the chin. These are the common mistakes that reduce or decrease the effectiveness of wearing a mask.

Many people who have covid-19 do not show symptoms, but these people have the tendency to spread the virus to others through the droplets that escape from the mouth while speaking, sneezing, or coughing. Research studies and scientists have proven that the usage of face masks reduces the spread of this life-threatening disease, i.e., covid-19. As we approach the back-to-school season, public knowledge of proper masking techniques is way more important than ever.

There must be certain FAQs in the head of most people. Let us have a look at a few FAQs and answer them to make things clear for you.

 

How can you identify a good disposable surgical face mask?

First and foremost, you need to make sure that the mask has more than one layer or that it is woven with a tight material. To check how tightly woven your mask is, you can conduct a candle test. To do the same, all that you will be needed to do is that you will be needed to wear a mask and carry a candle around a foot away from you and attempt to blow it out. If the candle blows out, then the masks are likely not great, and if it persists, then you have done a great task in choosing the correct mask for yourself. There is another way of testing your mask. You can test your mask with your phone light. Shine your phone’s light at your mask and see how well you can see on the other side. If the light can be seen quite clearly, then there are chances that the particles also can pass through the mask easily, and if the light does not pass easily, there are fewer chances of the particles to pass through the mask as well.

Doctors and research scholars quote that another important thing that one should notice in the masks is that the fit of the mask should be proper. Your mask must fit you properly above the nasal bridge and hug tightly.

There are several manufacturers of surgical Face masks in India.  Medsicher is one of the leading industries that is producing and selling face masks. You can look for the points that you want in a mask and opt for the one that best fits your needs.

 

Why must you wear a Surgical Face Mask even after two vaccine doses?

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