Personal Protection Concerns (Masks, etc.) for CoVid19

Glad I ordered more masks and gloves this year. We've been restocking the medical stuff for a couple months now. I already have several boxes of basic N95s, and we have filtered masks, too. But I had ordered the N95s with the valve a couple days ago, based on RM's thread on Flu Season and the links therein.

Good thing I did, the masks are now out of stock.  

Better to be overly cautious.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/fl-ne-surgical-masks-20200128-jwc4en2nwrfnle56rug6eni6qe-story.html

I don't understand why they are acting this way ...
I mean they almost act like its no big deal move on nothing to see here...

I don't think people should panic , but i do believe people should be getting prepared and the CDC is not really pushing message out..

If this thing really does get a foot hold here and takes off i am afraid we will see a panic from the public the will be amazing....

I've been answering questions on various FB forums about masks. I keep telling folks they need to have a LAYERED approach ... NOT just masks. It has to been masks, gloves, sanitizer, good hand washing hygiene .... We used to use a graphic in my public presentations using slices of swiss cheese ... as you put the slices on on top of the other, eventually all the holes are closed. Same with PPE.

ReadyMom wrote:I've been answering questions on various FB forums about masks. I keep telling folks they need to have a LAYERED approach ... NOT just masks. It has to been masks, gloves, sanitizer, good hand washing hygiene .... We used to use a graphic in my public presentations using slices of swiss cheese ... as you put the slices on on top of the other, eventually all the holes are closed. Same with PPE.

I agree with you I just don't get why the CDC is acting like this is not a big deal unless there is nothing that can be done about it and we are already screwed.....

I do have a tendency to overthink things sometimes

 Hat Tip to John West's Daily Big Threat Blog:

How to avoid coronavirus on flights: Forget masks, wash your hands
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/how-to-avoid-coronavirus-on-flights-forget-masks-wash-your-hands-20200207-p53yks.html

Washington: Forget face masks and rubber gloves. The best way to avoid the coronavirus is frequent hand washing, according to a medical adviser to the world's airlines.

The virus can't survive long on seats or armrests, so physical contact with another person carries the greatest risk of infection on a flight, said David Powell, a physician and medical adviser to the International Air Transport Association.

Masks and gloves do a better job of spreading bugs than stopping them, he said.

As concern mounts about the scale of the outbreak, carriers from United Airlines to Cathay Pacific Airways have scrapped thousands of flights to China. Here is an edited transcript from an interview with Powell. IATA represents about 290 airlines and more than 80 per cent of global air traffic.   ---CONTINUED---

The virus can't survive long on seats or armrests, so physical contact with another person carries the greatest risk of infection on a flight, said David Powell, a physician and medical adviser to the International Air Transport Association.

I have about two and a half comments to make on this paragraph.

First, by his very title, we can be certain he will provide biased information about airline travel. Else he can look for another job.

Second, what he says is probably true, in the strictest sense, about physical contact being the greatest risk. That said (the other half) what he says about armrests and seats is unlikely to be true (I can't say for certain, since I haven't been on a flight in twenty years).

In addition, I have seen a dozen medical "experts," but every one of them with a dog in the fight, tell us that masks and gloves are better at spreading the virus than stopping it, but there is absolutely no evidence this is true, and a lot of evidence it is false.

My bottom line is that I wouldn't wear a mask and glove at this stage of the game because the threat is not that great. Save the resources for when there is a real threat. (And, in the mean time, learn to used the properly, to get the best protection for your expense.)

OK, maybe that was three and a half comments

Well, I have been on a LOT of flights, the past couple of years because we’ve been traveling to watch our son in his pro-soccer career. Flights are usually packed.   Contact is close in the seats. And when there is a big person next to you, it’s even closer. Does their leg & arm touching yours count as ‘close contact ‘?  ...  

Just to be clear, in these parts, " a dog in the fight," means they have a reason to tell one side of the story, rather than a balanced report. (You may have known that.)

ReadyMom wrote:Well, I have been on a LOT of flights, the past couple of years because we’ve been traveling to watch our son in his pro-soccer career. Flights are usually packed.   Contact is close in the seats. And when there is a big person next to you, it’s even closer. Does their leg & arm touching yours count as ‘close contact ‘?  ...  

Close contact means close enough to be breathing in micro droplets carried by the other persons breath. That could mean an intimate conversation. Or it could mean sitting across then table for a marathon bargaining session with heated verbal exchanges.

Out doors, things are a bit harder to define, since you have wind and sunlight to factor in, but I wouldn't want to be in a brawl with someone with Wu-Virus. (Not to mention that the stress could cause their pharynx or trach to hemorrhage, even before they had any other symptoms.   Isn't this virus lovely?)

NOTE: 'NPI' = 'Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions'

Why NPIs Will Be Our 1st Line Of Defense Against COVID-19
https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2020/02/why-npis-will-be-our-1st-line-of.html

(SNIP) ... Last November, I wrote a multi-blog series (links below) on the WHO's revised 91-page Guidance document on the use of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during a severe influenza epidemic or pandemic.

WHO Guidance: Non-pharmaceutical Public Health Measures for Mitigating the Risk and Impact of Epidemic and Pandemic Influenza

The WHO NPI Guidance : Personal Protection

The WHO NPI Guidance : Social Distancing

The WHO NPI Guidance : Environmental Measures

The WHO Pandemic Influenza NPI Guidance : Travel Measures ---CONTINUED---

Hat Tip to Shiloh', FluTrackers:

Unmasked: Experts explain necessary respiratory protection for COVID-19
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/unmasked-experts-explain-necessary-respiratory-protection-covid-19

Filed Under:
COVID-19
Stephanie Soucheray | News Reporter | CIDRAP News
| Feb 13, 2020

Droplet or aerosol infection spread? Surgical mask or respirator? Asymptomatic transmission or symptomatic only?

These are the defining questions surrounding the person-to-person transmission of the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 that have yet to be answered—or answered sufficiently—for US experts monitoring the disease. And the answers hold the key to infection control policies that will become necessary as the disease continues to infect tens of thousands in China and hundreds more across the globe.

Yesterday the media reported that a Japanese doctor who was monitoring cruise ship passengers quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess in the port of Yokohama contracted the virus despite wearing gloves and a surgical mask. He joins the more than 500 healthcare workers in Wuhan, China, who have also reportedly contracted the disease—just by the middle of January.
These infections put into question how effective infection control policies are at preventing transmission.

Masks vs respirators—key differences
In its newly published infection prevention and control recommendations for COVID-19, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the use of N95 respirators in a healthcare setting with the suspected novel coronavirus, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended surgical masks for general patient care and respirators for aerosol-generating procedures only.

Face masks have become ubiquitous in China, sold on the street, and worn by almost everyone in public. A new survey, the Premise Coronavirus Awareness Survey, showed that in Taiwan 79.9% of people questioned said they were wearing masks in an effort to protect themselves from COVID-19. A similar percentage was noted in the Philippines.

Bruce Ribner, MD, medical director of the Serious Communicable Diseases Unit at Emory University Hospital, said the two masks serve very different functions. A surgical mask, or procedural mask, is meant to protect the environment from the wearer.

"It's meant to keep the surgeon's respiratory issues away from a patient," Ribner explained. A surgical mask does a good job of trapping large droplets, and some aerosol transmission, he said. Many of the masks being worn in China, though, are not designed for medical use or to any standards and so their effectiveness in trapping droplets is unknown.

A respirator, such as an N95, fits tighter to the face and is meant to help protect the wearer from inhaling infectious droplets in the environment.

"We don't really know how the coronavirus is being transmitted from person to person, because no one has done the NIOSH studies that simulate the cough big droplets that land 3 to 6 feet away from a person or the little droplets that can travel long distances and in air handling system," Ribner said. "So we have to use what we know about other coronaviruses and influenza when it comes to this disease."

What we know, Ribner said, is that multiple modes of transmission are likely at play, including large droplets, small droplets (or aerosols), and contaminated hands.

At Emory, Ribner is responsible for the care of patients treated for Ebola, Lassa fever, and other serious pathogen diseases.

Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, which publishes CIDRAP News, says, "The very unsettling data regarding the number of infected healthcare workers in the Wuhan area and the infection of a Japanese doctor working with those quarantined on the cruise ship and who used standard PPE [personal protective equipment]—except for a surgical mask instead of an N95 respirator—should be a real wake-up call to all of us about how do we really protect against this critical occupational risk."

How the virus travels in the air
Donald Milton, MD, a professor of environmental health at the University of Maryland, helped prove via the use of his Gesundheit machine that influenza could be spread via aerosol transmission. He said he is in contact with colleagues in Singapore who are attempting to study the transmission of the COVID-19 viruses, which are often called nCoV but are officially named SARS-CoV-2.

Though Chinese officials said earlier this week that they believe the coronavirus is transmitted only via droplets, implying they do not believe airborne or contact transmission plays a role, Milton said that statement is likely rooted in fear, not science.

"To me this sounds like someone trying to deal with panic, because people panic when they hear airborne transmission and long-distance transmission," he said. He said there has been scientific evidence or aerosol transmission of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus), so it is likely possible for this novel coronavirus, as well.

Milton cautions that the difference between aerosol and droplet transmission is largely in name only. Respiratory droplets, emitted with a sneeze or a cough, are commonly thought to land within 6 feet of patients and are too large to be buoyant on air currents. Respiratory aerosols are droplets too, Milton said, but smaller and light enough to travel farther.

"You cannot tell the difference epidemiologically between something aerosol transmitted by weak sources and large droplet spray," said Milton. "They behave so similar, it's very hard to pick up the difference."

He said he suspects the capability of long-distance transmission with COVID-19 will be connected to source strength, or how symptomatic a person is.

Protection may depend on resources
For Ribner, the issue of correct mask use will linger until the exact route of transmission is documented, and it is established if an asymptomatic person (one having no symptoms) can shed the virus before becoming sick.
"If we have a person who is shedding nCoV in the environment, the best way to stop transmission is to stick a surgical procedure mask on them," Ribner said. "In the best of all worlds, anyone coming into the room with an nCoV patient would wear a respirator."

But if a respirator is not available, because of cost or manufacturing, the next best option is a surgical mask, Ribner said. He said that likely contributes to the WHO's surgical mask recommendation.

"The WHO is sensitive to the fact that not every part of the world has the resources of the US and Western Europe," he said.

Keeping health workers from becoming patients
But Osterholm counters, "Frankly, the WHO recommendation that surgical masks provide adequate protection for healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients is not consistent with data we have from similar transmission dynamics we see with influenza virus."

In an op-ed today in the Washington Post, Osterholm and coauthor Mark Olshaker stressed, "In a very real sense, what happens to our health-care workers will be the metric of how we respond to this unfolding crisis. If we don't do all we can to protect them, they will quickly transition from providers to patients, further stressing already overburdened facilities."
They add, "Governments must support private-sector manufacturers in providing N95s and other equipment to front-line health-care providers and other essential workers. In terms of minimizing illness and death, this will be more important than any border closing, airport screening, or quarantine."

See also:
Feb 12 New York Times Japanese cruise ship story
Feb 11 Premise Data news release on COVID-19 survey
Feb 12 CDC guidance on respirator use
Feb 13 Washington Post op-ed

Hat Tip to John West's Daily Big Threat Blog:

Unmasked: Experts explain necessary respiratory protection for COVID-19
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/unmasked-experts-explain-necessary-respiratory-protection-covid-19

Droplet or aerosol infection spread? Surgical mask or respirator? Asymptomatic transmission or symptomatic only?

These are the defining questions surrounding the person-to-person transmission of the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 that have yet to be answered—or answered sufficiently—for US experts monitoring the disease. And the answers hold the key to infection control policies that will become necessary as the disease continues to infect tens of thousands in China and hundreds more across the globe. ---CONTINUED---

Hat Tip to FluWiki, Facebook:

Guide to using masks for prevention against novel coronavirus
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-02-19/Guide-to-using-masks-for-prevention-against-novel-coronavirus-ObjNzHfTUY/index.html

Masks can prevent a person from contracting respiratory diseases and reduce the risk of novel coronavirus infection.

1. Basic principles of use

The National Health Commission (NHC) of China has released a public guide regarding the use of masks for prevention against novel coronavirus. Recommended masks vary for different groups of people. ---CONTINUED---

Besides masks, gloves, gowns, you will need to clean the area around you, whether it be at work or in your home. Here's a list of items to stock up on now (from happy preppers)  before it's too late to do so.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure:


https://www.happypreppers.com/disinfectants.html

Re: disinfectants.

The more people who live, work, or just transit a space, the more important it is to disinfect that space. My wife and I live alone, and are retired. We have a pact to share everything, including germs, so disinfecting the house isn't important, like it would be if we had a family living here.

Sharing the germs carried by the outside world is a different matter.

I don't plan to don suit, mask, and gloves, every time I am in a public space. But I do think, once the Covid-19 is epidemic in my neck of the woods, I will start carrying disinfectant wipes to clean my hands every time I get back to my vehicle.

I decided on this route because if an infected person was in an area an hour before I was, their germs would no longer be in the air, but would be on touchable surfaces in that area.

All the stores around here have the handy wipes available to wipe down your cart and hands.

But I do carry the small bottle of hand sanitizer in my pocket and one in my truck during the flu season.

Your hands are your worse enemy, you touch stuff and then you pick your nose, rub your eye or are putting a chew of snuff in your mouth, next thing you know, you're sick as a dog.

rick1 wrote:All the stores around here have the handy wipes available to wipe down your cart and hands.
...

It will be (and might be, already) more important to disinfect your hands AFTER you leave the store, than disinfecting the cart when you arrive. Potentially, every item you touch in the store could be infected, so you will probably pick up the germs off of something, if there have been sick people (who don't yet show symptoms) in the store.

Germs on a surface (fomite transmission) die over time, more than half of them each day, so when you get the stuff home (if the epidemic is active in your neck of the woods), set it aside somewhere for a day or two (or use the thirty day rotation through your pantry to accomplish this) and the likelihood of you getting infected by touching it later is a lot lower than it was when you were in the market.

I agree too, that's why I carry hand sanitizer in my pocket and in my truck.

I'd say you'd have to do it twice - once after you put the groceries in the car, and again after you unload them at home.

Cinnamon wrote:I'd say you'd have to do it twice - once after you put the groceries in the car, and again after you unload them at home.

Certainly can't hurt.
Is there any such thing as overkill, when dealing with this [/rhetorical]?

On a tangential subject, I wonder if someone posted a method of making homemade masks from paper coffee filters, because they were all gone when I got to the store this morning.
(I don't plan on doing the mask thing, and have enough coffee filters, so it is just an observation)

Taiwan to donate 100,000 masks per week to US
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3899531

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As Taiwan and the U.S. step up their cooperation on the development of drugs and vaccines to battle the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), Taiwan has pledged to donate 100,000 face masks per week to the U.S., while the U.S. is reserving 300,000 hazmat suits for Taiwan.

On Wednesday (March 18) Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said that Taiwan will supply 100,000 surgical face masks to the U.S. weekly. In exchange, the U.S. will be reserving 300,000 hazmat suits for Taiwan in the event that it requires them. ---CONTINUED---

Pence asks construction companies to donate N95 industrial masks to local hospitals
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pence-asks-constructions-companies-to-donate-n95-industrial-masks-to-local-hospitals

Vice President Pence called on construction companies Tuesday to donate their N95 respirator masks to hospitals to protect front-line responders from the coronavirus pandemic.

Pence, who is heading the White House's coronavirus task force, also called on construction companies to stop ordering more masks so health care workers can be protected as they treat an influx of patients infected with COVID-19.

"We would make one specific request and that is we would urge construction companies to donate inventory of N95 masks to your local hospital and forgo additional orders," Pence said from the White House. --CONTINUED--

I heard on the radio this morning, that the dust masks they sell at harbor freight, if you double them, they MAY work on viruses.

If that's all you got, it's better than nothin'.

Why Telling People They Don’t Need Masks Backfired
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-face-masks.html

(SNIP) ... As the pandemic rages on, there will be many difficult messages for the public. Unfortunately, the top-down conversation around masks has become a case study in how not to communicate with the public, especially now that the traditional gatekeepers like media and health authorities have much less control. The message became counterproductive and may have encouraged even more hoarding because it seemed as though authorities were shaping the message around managing the scarcity rather than confronting the reality of the situation. ---CONTINUED---

Viable viral efficiency of N95 and P100 respirator filters at constant and cyclic flow.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24011377?fbclid=IwAR3M7FvTe9jUmeRUaZhx8krdY9rGYBGzizM8JTJ68AjGxFwdpf6Ania9wF4

Abstract

The growing threat of an influenza pandemic presents a unique challenge to healthcare workers, emergency responders, and the civilian population. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-approved respirators to provide protection against infectious airborne viruses in various workplace settings. The filtration efficiency of selected NIOSH-approved particulate N95 and P100 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) and filter cartridges was investigated against the viable MS2 virus, a non-pathogenic bacteriophage, aerosolized from a liquid suspension. Tests were performed under two cyclic flow conditions (minute volumes of 85 and 135 L/min) and two constant flow rates (85 and 270 L/min). The mean penetrations of viable MS2 through the N95 and P100 FFRs/cartridges were typically less than 2 and 0.03%, respectively, under all flow conditions. All N95 and P100 FFR and cartridge models assessed in this study, therefore, met or exceeded their respective efficiency ratings of 95 and 99.97% against the viable MS2 test aerosol, even under the very high flow conditions. These NIOSH-approved FFRs and particulate respirators equipped with these cartridges can be anticipated to achieve expected levels of protection (consistent with their assigned protection factor) against airborne viral agents, provided that they are properly selected, fitted, worn, and maintained.

Everyone Thinks They’re Right About Masks
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/coronavirus-pandemic-airborne-go-outside-masks/609235/

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, many people are now overthinking things they never used to think about at all. Can you go outside? What if you’re walking downwind of another person? What if you’re stuck waiting at a crosswalk and someone is there? What if you’re going for a run, and another runner is heading toward you, and the sidewalk is narrow? Suddenly, daily mundanities seem to demand strategy. ---CONTINUED---

Coronavirus can remain on face masks for up to a week, study finds
https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/other/coronavirus-can-remain-on-face-masks-for-up-to-a-week-study-finds/ar-BB12e780

The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 can adhere to stainless steel and plastic surfaces for up to four days, and to the outer layer of a face mask for a week, according to a study by researchers from the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

The team also found that common household disinfectants, including bleach, were effective in “killing” the virus. ---CONTINUED---

COMMENTARY: Respirators can be reused, but decontamination not well studied
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/commentary-respirators-can-be-reused-decontamination-not-well-studied

Perhaps lost in the recent debate and federal recommendations on cloth masks for the general public has been the key issue of protecting those putting their lives on the line daily: hard-working healthcare workers as hospitals face limited supplies of N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) during this pandemic.

Key to such protection are issues surrounding respirator reuse and decontamination to optimize use of FFRs, which are personal protective devices constructed largely from filter material worn on the face that prevent inhalation of viral aerosols by the wearer. ---CONTINUED---

Why the U.S. Flip-Flopped on Masks While Asia Stayed the Course
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/why-the-us-flip-flopped-on-masks-while-asia-stayed-the-course/ar-BB12ihlo?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp

HONG KONG — The United States has done an about-face on advising people to wear masks in public in the past week. At the beginning of the outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health officials sent a clear message: Masks should be reserved for health care workers.

(SNIP) ... But now, after evidence that asymptomatic people can spread the disease, the CDC is recommending ---CONTINUED---

To mask or not to mask: WHO makes U-turn while US, Singapore abandon pandemic advice and tell citizens to start wearing masks
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/mask-not-mask-makes-u-073754624.html

As the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic which has made more than a million people sick and caused more than 58,000 deaths so far, one issue has divided the international medical community: should everyone wear masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus?

From the start, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the answer was ‘no’. Masks should be worn by those who are sick, and medical and care workers, according to the global body. There was no need for people who are well to wear them. ---CONTINUED---

Do you have one of these N95 masks, just kidding, I hope.

Millions of counterfeit N95 masks discovered in warehouse in NY:

https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-counterfeit-n95-masks-fraud-3m-queens-warehouse-20210211-i32qvm6bm5hmblwne2yaqt3npi-story.html

rick1 wrote:Do you have one of these N95 masks, just kidding, I hope.

Millions of counterfeit N95 masks discovered in warehouse in NY:

https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-counterfeit-n95-masks-fraud-3m-queens-warehouse-20210211-i32qvm6bm5hmblwne2yaqt3npi-story.html

Oh no, say it ain't true Mr. Bill, millions of the N95 masks have been distributed:

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/millions-counterfeit-n95-masks-distributed-health-care-workers-u-s-n1257357

Demonrats in LA to make mask wearing indoors mandatory beginning Saturday, doesn't matter if you've been vaccinated or not:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/15/los-angeles-county-restores-indoor-mask-mandate-for-all.html

rick1 wrote:Demonrats in LA to make mask wearing indoors mandatory beginning Saturday, doesn't matter if you've been vaccinated or not:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/15/los-angeles-county-restores-indoor-mask-mandate-for-all.html

Maybe the vax isn't as good as they say it is..

Who knows

They are preparing for Scamdemic Part II

You'll be told a booster is necessary for some variant at $100+ for the Admin Fee.

The NY Yankees just postponed a game as fully vacinated players got sick. Somw whispers that the World Series will be cancelled. Rports of outbreaks among Olympians already repported.

Los Angeles County is 10 Million people. Population density across the whole county is over 2400 people per square mile, with several areas having ten times that density.

Even if everyone got the vaccine and it was 98% effective, there would be more vulnerable people per square mile, there, than the entire population of many counties across the US.

They won't be out of danger until every one has had the virus AND the vaccine. Maybe not even then. I suspect the population of LA County will diminish, substantially, over the next ten years, one way or another.

CDC is on a roll, again.

Don't matter if your vaccinated or not. That doesn't help to get people vaccinated, it tells people that the vaccination doesn't work.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/27/politics/cdc-mask-guidance/index.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/cdc-to-reverse-indoor-mask-policy-to-recommend-them-for-fully-vaccinated-people-in-covid-hot-spots.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/biden-to-wear-mask-in-areas-of-us-where-new-cdc-guidance-will-apply.html

rick1 wrote:CDC is on a roll, again.

Yeah, CDC is good for gathering statistics (so far), but I don't pay much attention to their propaganda.

Fortunately, no one in any political office above me pays any attention to them, either.

rick1 wrote:CDC is on a roll, again.

Don't matter if your vaccinated or not. That doesn't help to get people vaccinated, it tells people that the vaccination doesn't work.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/27/politics/cdc-mask-guidance/index.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/cdc-to-reverse-indoor-mask-policy-to-recommend-them-for-fully-vaccinated-people-in-covid-hot-spots.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/biden-to-wear-mask-in-areas-of-us-where-new-cdc-guidance-will-apply.html

Be careful of the over generalizations....

Here's some quotes from the articles you linked

From https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/cdc-to-reverse-indoor-mask-policy-to-recommend-them-for-fully-vaccinated-people-in-covid-hot-spots.html

Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine advocate who has served on advisory panels for both the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC earlier this month that the U.S. was still “undervaccinated,” with about half of the population not fully inoculated.

Even people who are fully protected have cause for concern when it comes to Covid variants, Offit said. While the vaccines protect well against severe disease and death, they may not protect as well against mild disease or spreading Covid to others, he said. No vaccine is 100% effective, he noted.

“It is not a bold prediction to believe that SARS-CoV-2 is going to be circulating two or three years from now. I mean there are 195 countries out there, most of which haven’t been given a single dose of vaccine,” Offit said. “Will it still be circulating in the United States? I think that would be very, very likely.”

From https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/27/politics/cdc-mask-guidance/index.html

The CDC's latest guidance also recommends that community leaders encourage vaccination and mask-wearing to prevent further outbreaks in areas of substantial and high transmission. The agency recommends that local jurisdictions encourage universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.
Walensky said coronavirus vaccines reduced the risk of symptomatic infection seven-fold and reduced the risk of hospitalization 20-fold.
CNN earlier reported that top officials met on Sunday night to go over the new data and evidence regarding the transmissibility of the variant and breakthrough cases, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

The fact that the vaccines protect against severe disease and death says that they DO work.

Vaccines aren't magic potions that guarantee protection....but they do a LOT to keep folks safer than they'd be without the shot.

Here is a few useful quotes from a June 24, 2021 AP article that makes that perfectly clear:

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-941fcf43d9731c76c16e7354f5d5e187

An Associated Press analysis of available government data from May shows that “breakthrough” infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for fewer than 1,200 of more than 107,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations. That’s about 1.1%.

And only about 150 of the more than 18,000 COVID-19 deaths in May were in fully vaccinated people. That translates to about 0.8%, or five deaths per day on average.

In Seattle’s King County, the public health department found only three deaths during a recent 60-day period in people who were fully vaccinated. The rest, some 95% of 62 deaths, had had no vaccine or just one shot.

In the St. Louis area, more than 90% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have not been vaccinated, said Dr. Alex Garza, a hospital administrator who directs a metropolitan-area task force on the outbreak.

I just wish more people would get vaccinated to try and help out the healthcare workers and folks who need routine medical care. Hospitals around the country have been running ragged for over a year now, and the vaccines work to help keep folks from getting sick enough to need hospital care.

I know I won't change minds, but couldn't sit by and not at least point out the facts that all too often get missed in the sound bytes from television reports and headlines online trying to grab page views. Sigh.

For the record, I'm fully vaccinated and keep a cloth mask with me at all times when I go out in public. So when I'm going to enter a store that has other folks in it, I can slip the mask on quickly and easily. I also make sure to wear a N95 or KN95 mask (none of which have exhalation vents) whenever I visit elderly housing since there are so many frail folks in close contact with each other, I don't want to risk unknowingly spreading anything.

And I work in IT at a school and was masked all last year, and if things keep going as they are I fully expect to be masked at work all this year too. Sure, it's annoying, but I'm doing my best for everyone and accepting the minor inconvenience.

Ok, I'll step off my soapbox.

Edited to highlight the risk reduction from the CNN article quote

CDC concerns on the delta variant and masks:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/07/27/reversing-earlier-guidance-amid-delta-fears-cdc-advises-vaccinated-people-wear-masks

Walmart put the Hanes cloth masks on sale for $1 (5 in a package). We've bought several packs, just to keep in the car and around the house.

Long before Covid, Husband masked up to mow the yard due to his asthma. Having these on hand is great, as they can be washed over and over.

Now that my sister has cancer, and is being treated, her medical staff want her to stay masked when she is around other people, vaccinated or not. (Although they strongly prefer her to stay home, and she is, for now).

We have an assortment of masks, some homemade by me, commercial cloth, surgical, N95 (various kinds and brands), and even paper conical ones that help one breathe easier.

Our rural area and the closest cities do not require anyone to wear masks, most are shopping and eating at restaurants unmasked.

I'm just being prepared for whatever comes.

ReadyMom wrote:NOTE: 'NPI' = 'Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions'

Why NPIs Will Be Our 1st Line Of Defense Against COVID-19
https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2020/02/why-npis-will-be-our-1st-line-of.html

(SNIP) ... Last November, I wrote a multi-blog series (links below) on the WHO's revised 91-page Guidance document on the use of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during a severe influenza epidemic or pandemic.

...

NPI's will ALWAYS be our first, and usually our most important line of defense against any pandemic virus.

Yet another article on the value of masks in various settings, mostly classrooms in Switzerland.
https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/05/plos-med-sars-cov-2-transmission-with.html

While the authors tend to be gee whizz ing themselves (attaching more importance to findings than is warrented) the findings are interesting, and of some value.

As Covid19 and other viruses are giving us a bit of a break, but also giving us fair warning that they are not gone for good (frankly, we should be ready for another round of one virus or another, about every two years, from this time, forward), now seems to be the time to form a plan of action and take steps to prepare for the next round.

As dmwalsh pointed out, a couple years ago, vaccines aren't completely useless, even when we need to be wary of the "hype for profit" that may accompany some of them.
https://emergencyhomeprep.forumotion.com/t1480-personal-protection-concerns-masks-etc-for-covid19#12367

Now is also the time to stockpile masks (or other protective gear), and plan for quarantines and think about who you will include in your "bubble"
https://theconversation.com/quarantine-bubbles-when-done-right-limit-coronavirus-risk-and-help-fight-loneliness-140134