U.S. health officials are encouraging more Americans to wear the kind of N95 or KN95 masks used by health-care workers to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Registered nurse Scott McGieson wears an N95 mask as he walks out of a patient's room in the acute care unit of Harborview Medical Center, Friday, Jan. 14, 2022, in Seattle. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is deploying 100 members of the state National Guard to hospitals across the state amid staff shortages due to an omicron-fueled spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Those kinds of masks are considered better at filtering virus from the air. But they previously were in short supply, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials had said they should be prioritized for health care workers.posted late Friday afternoon, CDC officials removed concerns related to supply shortages and more clearly said that properly fitted N95 and KN95 masks provide the most protection.
However, agency officials noted some masks are harder to tolerate than others, and urged people to choose good-fitting masks that they will wear consistently.In its last update, in September, CDC officials became more encouraging of disposable N95 masks, saying they could be used in certain situations if supplies were available.
The latest CDC guidance notes that there is a special category of “surgical N95" masks, that are specially designed for protection against blood splashes and other operating room hazards. Those are not generally available for sale to the public, and should continue to be reserved for health care workers, the agency said.The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.
Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commentingNorth Korea on Saturday said it test launched ballistic missiles from a train in what was seen as an apparent retaliation against fresh sanctions imposed by the Biden administration.
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