New York and L.A. meet CDC masking requirements

• Covid is spreading rapidly in New York and Los Angeles.
• CDC recommends masks indoors and on public transit.
• Both New York City and Los Angeles County recorded 3,200 daily cases

Covid is spreading rapidly in New York and Los Angeles, therefore the CDC recommends masks indoors and on public transit.

The CDC recommends new Covid cases, hospital capacity, and hospital admissions. Both New York City and Los Angeles County recorded 3,200 daily cases on Thursday, and hospital inpatient beds in their states are over 80% full.

Some localities are also requiring masks in schools this winter.

Students and workers in Philadelphia will be required to wear masks indoors for two weeks in January to reduce transmission after the holidays. The NYC Department of Education urged students and staff to wear masks indoors this week. In Boston, BPS Families for Covid Safety wants a 10-day mask rule.

Neil Saunders, retail managing director at GlobalData, says more Americans are buying masks.

“This was partly due to Thanksgiving travel and gatherings. Some of the current surges may be due to Covid and flu fears, Saunders added.

After three years of using Covid, fewer people use masks in public than before.

“Most individuals find masks uncomfortable, so they’ll pick” when to wear them, says Stanford University’s Dr. Stephen Luby.

“We’re at a point societally where people don’t feel the bother of wearing a mask is worth it,” he said.

Linsey Marr, a Virginia Tech researcher who researches aerosol transmission, said masking’s efficiency has remained basically stable since December.

“Masks will function the same against omicron and any other variant of SARS-CoV-2,” she said.

As individuals tire of wearing masks, studies on their effectiveness have stagnated, says Laura Kwong of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

“We don’t have good research comparing alpha, delta, and omicron mask efficacy, especially for omicron subvariants,” she noted.

Marr stated KN95 or N95 masks inhibit 95% of airborne viruses. KN95 or N95 masks reduced a person’s odds of testing positive for Covid by 83%, compared with 66% for surgical masks and 56% for cloth masks (albeit the results for cloth masks weren’t statistically significant).

“Any mask is better than none, but you might as well wear a KN95 or N95,” Marr added.

Even Covid-vaccinated patients should wear masks, say, specialists.

Masks can lower the danger of lengthy Covid by preventing infections, said Luby.

Kwong said masks protect elderly or immunocompromised persons from getting Covid. In Bangladesh, Kwong and Luby found that 42% of the population wearing masks reduced symptomatic Covid by 35%.

Kwong recommended examining how near you are to others while selecting when to mask: “Anywhere people are breathing, talking, singing and you can touch someone is a crowded environment.”

Marr said it’s appropriate to evaluate socializing vs. getting sick.

“Socializing at a holiday party is quite beneficial,” she said. Unmasking in the subway is pointless.

Luby stated he wears a mask even when others don’t.

“I’m usually the only one wearing a mask,” he remarked. I know I’m defending myself and my family, therefore I’m willing to risk social disapproval.

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