{"id":183369,"date":"2023-08-24T10:45:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T14:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=183369"},"modified":"2023-08-24T10:45:41","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T14:45:41","slug":"it-may-be-time-to-break-out-the-masks-against-covid-some-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/it-may-be-time-to-break-out-the-masks-against-covid-some-experts-say\/","title":{"rendered":"It may be time to break out the masks against Covid, some experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CNN – If you\u2019re at high risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19, it\u2019s time to dust off those N95 masks and place them snugly over your nose and mouth to protect yourself from a recent uptick of the virus, according to a growing number of experts.<\/p>\n

That advice should go all the way up to 80-year-old President Joe Biden, said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist.<\/p>

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\u201cOctogenarians comprise the highest-risk group for complications following Covid infection,\u201d Reiner said.<\/p>

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As a summer wave of Covid-19 hits the US, questions about vaccines, quarantine and testing are back<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cAt least until the numbers start to drop again, it would be appropriate for President Biden to take some precautions and wear a mask in crowds.\u201d<\/p>

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Other\u00a0high-risk groups<\/a>\u00a0include people with diabetes, cancer, chronic liver, kidney or lung disease, organ or stem cell transplants, HIV or other immunocompromising conditions, a history of heart disease or stroke, dementia or mental health issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a caregiver for somebody who is at increased risk of complication following infection, then I think you should also consider putting a mask on in public places,\u201d said Reiner, a professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences.<\/p>

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\u201cAnd since the masks that are most effective are N95 that are now readily available, that\u2019s the kind of mask you should wear,\u201d he added.<\/p>

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u00a0urges people<\/a>\u00a0to \u201cwear a mask with the best fit, protection, and comfort for you,\u201d and it notes that some people are at higher risk for severe illness from Covid-19.<\/p>\n

But the agency doesn\u2019t make a broad recommendation for everyone to adopt masks. That could change if\u00a0hospitalizations reach critical levels.<\/a>\u00a0The CDC recommends\u00a0universal masking<\/a>\u00a0in jurisdictions that have 20 or more people with Covid per 100,000 in local hospitals and masking for high-risk individuals when 10 to 19.9 people per 100,000 are hospitalized from the virus.<\/p>\n

Overall, there were about four new hospital admissions for every 100,000 people nationwide in the week ending August 12, which is considered low, according to CDC\u00a0thresholds<\/a>. No counties had high levels of Covid-19 hospitalizations. But 85 counties \u2014 about 3% of the country \u2014 were in the medium threshold. About a quarter of those counties were in Florida.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIndoors when there\u2019s a lot of people and it\u2019s crowded, poor ventilation, I\u2019m still leery at this point, especially with the uptick we\u2019re starting to see now, which I don\u2019t know when it will plateau,\u201d said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist at the Scripps Translational Research Institute.<\/p>\n

A new variant,\u00a0BA.2.86<\/a>, has captured scientists\u2019 attention because it\u2019s highly mutated, but so far it\u2019s only been detected in a small number of people globally. Nonetheless, \u201cit doesn\u2019t look good \u2026 in terms of the virus\u2019 nonstop evolution,\u201d Topol said. The virus \u201ckeeps finding new ways to challenge humans, to find new hosts and repeat hosts, and it\u2019s relentless.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s going on with Covid-19?<\/h2>\n

The CDC stopped reporting aggregate Covid-19 case counts this year, but a growing number of hospitalizations has triggered concern among those who track the disease.<\/p>\n

Levels of the virus in wastewater from toilets \u2014 which can be an early indication of a Covid spike in a community \u2014 have doubled, said\u00a0Dr. Robert Wachter<\/a>, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cHospitalizations have not yet doubled, but I think they probably will, as the numbers lag a couple of weeks behind,\u201d Wachter said. \u201cIt\u2019s riskier that you will get infected now than it was a month or two ago, without question, probably twice as risky. If you\u2019re trying to be careful, it\u2019s time to whip out the mask again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although new coronavirus variants, like the dominant variant,\u00a0EG.5<\/a>, might not have driven the recent acceleration by themselves, they might be somewhat resistant to immunity provided by current vaccines and boosters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, most people haven\u2019t gotten a booster for a while, so the collective immunity is lower than it was six months ago,\u201d Wachter said. \u201cThe virus sees that and sees most faces and noses and mouths are uncovered and unprotected, so it takes advantage of that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new booster designed to better protect against many of the commonly circulating strains of Covid will be out in a month or so, and most people can wait for that new shot to jumpstart their immunity, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re over 65, are immunocompromised or haven\u2019t had Covid recently, and you haven\u2019t had\u00a0another dose of the bivalent booster<\/a>, you should get it now to protect yourself, he added.<\/p>\n

The new booster coming this fall will target a family of Omicron subvariants called XBB and is expected to provide good protection against even newer versions, Topol said, but scientists are not sure how significant BA.2.86 will be.<\/p>\n

Springing into action<\/h2>\n

Some institutions are already reacting to the rise in Covid. Morris Brown College in Atlanta\u00a0announced a return<\/a>\u00a0to mandated physical distancing and masks just one week after classes started in August.<\/p>\n

And pediatricians are poised for the typical return-to-school surge in all kinds of respiratory illness, whether colds, flu or Covid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing an increase in Covid cases, and in general the overall percentage of testing at home is low, so there may be even more Covid cases than we know about, especially since the vast majority of kids have no or mild symptoms,\u201d said pediatrician Dr. Sara Bode, medical director of school-based health and mobile clinics at Nationwide Children\u2019s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n

Still, the majority of students do not need to wear masks and should instead use traditional prevention such as handwashing, coughing into their elbow and staying home when sick, said Bode, who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics\u2019 Council on School Health.<\/p>\n

However, if a child has a significant health condition that affects their immune system and their ability to fight off infections, \u201cthat is when I would recommend talking with your doctor about the need to add a mask to you individually to help prevent exposure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

If necessary in an outbreak, there could be a return to universal masking at school, Bode said, \u201cbut I would definitely highlight and encourage people to make that their change and not to go back to virtual learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned from the pandemic that kids need to be in school. It\u2019s really important for their social and emotional health,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Although some medical offices and hospitals have gradually dropped masking requirements, a group of doctors in Washington state wrote in an editorial published Tuesday that health care settings should maintain masking \u2014\u00a0even if the broader population doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cMasking also remains an important mitigation measure to protect the health of our health care workforce, including those who are at high risk for severe disease,\u201d the doctors wrote in in the\u00a0Annals of Internal Medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Are Americans in the mood for masks?<\/h2>\n

Despite the concern among experts and some institutions, Americans don\u2019t appear to be worried enough about the recent rise in cases to change their behavior. Covid-19 was at the bottom of their list of key public health threats, according to the latest\u00a0Axios<\/a>\/Ipsos<\/a> American Health Index poll.<\/p>\n

The number of adults who say they wear a mask in public sometimes or at all times continues to decline, the poll found, while 82% haven\u2019t taken a home Covid-19 test in the past week.<\/p>\n

When it comes to protecting themselves, \u201ceverybody\u2019s choosing their own adventure now,\u201d Wachter said. \u201cI don\u2019t particularly blame young, healthy vaccinated people for saying \u2018I\u2019m over this. I don\u2019t want to deal with this anymore,\u2019 as long as they have their eyes open and understand the risks they\u2019re taking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCovid isn\u2019t just only about the effects of the infection,\u201d Chin-Hong said, adding that the infection can raise the risk of diabetes, heart disease or Alzheimer\u2019s that\u2019s independent of long Covid.\u00a0\u201cYou don\u2019t want to be afraid of it or \u2026 go around like a boy in a bubble,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you cannot get it, that\u2019s a good thing at any age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of how you may feel about wearing a mask, the reality is that Covid-19 is here to stay, experts said, and we will need to continue to adapt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe virus is always lurking, waiting for openings, so I think Covid is just going to be a bit of a roller coaster, probably forever,\u201d Wachter said. \u201cI liken it to the Golden Gate Bridge: You\u2019ve finished painting it, and the minute you\u2019re done, you\u2019ve got to start all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

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CNN – If you\u2019re at high risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19, it\u2019s time to dust off those N95 masks and place them snugly over your nose and mouth to protect yourself from a recent uptick of the virus, according to a growing number of experts. 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