September 7, 2021

Masking the problem

Fall is coming. The sun is setting earlier, although still no rain. Somehow, summer seems shorter this year. The promise we felt last winter with the gift of vaccines has faded away.

It is easy to blame the unvaccinated. But it is not so simple. The delta variant made sure of that. Our change in habits has also contributed. Now even Washington state and Seattle and King County have more infections than ever, with hospitals full.

The habit we changed was to stop wearing masks because we thought we were protected by vaccines. The Delta caught so many of us off guard. The outbreak in Provincetown, Massachusetts, is a great lesson in how to spread and then how to contain that spread with contact tracing. The Sturgis motorcycle rally once again demonstrates how to spread a pandemic even further, by not masking while in close contact in crowded venues. The Delta variant is unforgiving. Now, Idaho’s hospitals and ICU’s are full. Decisions are being made about who gets care and who doesn’t. Tragic and fully avoidable. Heartbreaking for families and devastating for the providers who are forced to decide.

We know with good data that vaccines prevent hospitalizations and deaths. Here in King County, data shows that an unvaccinated person is 50 times more likely to be hospitalized and 30 times as likely to die than if they had been immunized.

This data can feel like just gloom and doom. But we do have ways to stay safe. More and more data proves that wearing masks works to prevent spread. In fact, our habits changed, allowing more spread. Many people all over felt safe and stopped wearing their masks. The Delta variant allowed more spread, despite vaccines, since the virus is airborne.

We have learned so much since the beginning of the pandemic, especially about transmission. We all need to return to our tried and true mask skills, especially since the Delta variant is most transmissible two days before symptoms and 2 days after the symptoms start. The tale of an unvaccinated teacher who took her mask off for story time infecting half of her class spread virally, increasing anxiety in parents and teachers.

For many of us, it is time to improve our masks. The study that showed masking prevents infections also showed that surgical masks were better than cloth masks for prevention. Quality does vary in cloth masks. Also, fit matters too. Some airlines are banning homemade and cloth masks, encouraging surgical masks or KN95 masks instead.

We all should think about upgrading our masks when in riskier situations. I wear my KN95 mask inside Costco, but wear my double lined cloth mask to my local, small grocery store. Masks are simple tools to protect us and others. I have some links on how to find reliable KN95’s that are not counterfeit. The CDC has good advice on helping masks fit better. Might as well stock up for the winter.

Wash your hands, cover your nose with the best mask you got, keep safe six, and stay sensible.

And finally, my caveat is that this is my experience and my opinions, which are subject to change as more information is available, and not related to the organization I work for. Thanks for reading.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/north-central-washington-reaches-highest-all-time-covid-19-case-rates/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/a-lot-of-these-people-are-not-going-to-make-it-official-warns-as-washington-covid-hospitalizations-continue-rising/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/opinion/provincetown-covid-contact-tracing.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/07/sturgis-covid-delta-variant/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/idaho-enacts-crisis-hospital-care-standards-amid-covid-surge/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/unvaccinated-49-times-more-likely-to-be-hospitalized-for-covid-19-king-county-data-shows/

https://kingcounty.gov/depts/health/covid-19/data/vaccination-outcomes.aspx

https://www.mdlinx.com/news/largest-study-of-its-kind-finds-face-masks-reduce-covid-19/5917Qy1QBeJNPQ3ffyTkxW

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abd9149 airborne

https://www.mdlinx.com/news/covid-19-is-most-transmissible-2-days-before-and-3-days-after-symptoms-appear/5tLkMEF426VEZmh45ndRqX

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/an-elementary-school-teacher-took-off-her-mask-for-a-read-aloud-within-days-half-her-class-was-positive-for-delta/

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/massive-randomized-study-is-proof-that-surgical-masks-limit-coronavirus-spread-authors-say/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/09/03/cloth-masks-airline-banned-covid/

https://www.axios.com/it-might-be-time-for-a-mask-upgrade-084c9764-8a7c-4210-b6dc-5ced98b8e53f.html

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/usernotices/counterfeitResp.html

https://www.projectn95.org

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/effective-masks.html