I don’t get why people wear masks ineffectively or use less effective masks when better ones are easily available. If you are going to wear a mask in a particular situation, why not use a good mask properly?
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I think sometimes people want to THINK, see I’m being safe, but say “wow, harder to breathe when I have a mask on.”
Most people have far better lung function than me and I can properly wear good fitting masks correctly for many hours at a time. Yes, it IS slightly harder to breathe when wearing them than without, but I am serious about wanting to remain healthy and have loved having no infections since 2019, a record (usually get 1-6 infections every year for past 20+ years).
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High filtration masks do vary in airflow, so this may be another situation where using better masks would help. But it seems that airflow ratings of masks are less well known.
Heck, folks even have surgical masks below their nose—protecting no one but the mask manufacturer’s pocketbook.
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There is the body of work by Aaron Collins where he evaluated a huge # of masks and made numerous youtube videos and a google spreadsheet about various masks available and how easy it was to breathe through them when worn properly. The info is out there for folks who want the info.
I’m sure there is info by others as well.
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@MaineLonghorn i would suggest that you get a Covid vaccine booster 2 weeks before you fly to Europe. You may have already thought of that. We went in the fall so two weeks before we went, we got our flu shots and covid vaccine. I’d like to think it helped.
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I used his spreadsheet to choose masks, and it was extremely helpful.
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We are going to London, Lisbon and Porto the second half of October. H and I plan to get our flu vaccines and Covid boosters 2-3 weeks before our trip to hopefully have good coverage.
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My family and I use the Savewo mask the he wears at his workplace and it’s quite protective while being relatively easy to breathe with. It’s expensive at over $1 apiece but I rewear it for about a week or so, swapping with others so the mask I wear is always clean and dry.
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Don’t you have to be 65 to get the next booster? DH is older, but I’m not.
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Current recommendation is that those 65+ can get another of last year’s bivalent (ancestral + Omicron BA.5) booster at least four months after the previous one.
The FDA will meet this June about what to have for a fall booster. The WHO has recommended targeting only Omicron XBB.1.5 and/or XBB.1.16 for fall boosters, but countries are not required to do exactly the WHO recommendations.
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So it sounds like I won’t be able to get a booster before our trip.
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@MaineLonghorn I thought the same thing, that the latest booster was only available for 65+. However last week I was talking with a coworker who is in her 40s. She said she and her husband were able to schedule appts recently and got theirs last week. Perhaps it depends on the provider/pharmacy?
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That’s good to know. It’s worth a try. I would be willing to pay for it if I need to.
A homeless shelter in my area just had an outbreak of Covid. About 95% of their guests are vaccinated. Prior to lifting mask requirements on May 11, there had been limited numbers of positive COVID cases, and in each case, the positive cases were confined to one guest. About a week ago, a guest had symptoms, so everyone was tested. At that time, they found 10 positive cases. Over the next few days, the number jumped to 33 guests and four staff members. Two guests became very ill. The shelter has had to put guests into hotel rooms, straining their staff and budget. Everyone is masked again … I hope they continue the practice, because it seems like it was working to contain Covid (and probably other illnesses).
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The FDA announcement does mention the following, so it may be that the <65 people who got the second bivalent booster had some immunocompromising medical condition.
DH and I have yet to get Covid. (Here’s hoping…)Last year, a relative brought Covid to our family beach house vacation (4 households- 3 pairs of adults and a couple with 4 kids under 12). All except DH and I caught Covid. We were the only ones eligible for the spring ‘22 booster due to our age and had the shot. We had exposure greater than or equal to others. All masked up and distanced with first exposure.
We learned about Enovid during this experience, ordered it and have been using it since July 2022, with most exposures to public spaces, as well as masking in indoor busy spaces and for travel. I have a major upcoming ortho surgery scheduled and Dr said his input from infectious disease colleagues re: Enovid was very positive. (Major research hospital).He felt it may be a significant factor in our not getting it in the last year. We have traveled internationally, masking on transportation and indoors. Of course, avoiding Covid pre-op is a priority here.
Curious what others experience with it has been. Research suggests that it has efficacy both as a prophylactic reducing the likelihood of contracting viruses (including Covid) as well as a history of substantially decreasing viral load when taken early with diagnosed Covid. I am not a physician, so this is merely a layperson’s summary and as far as I know, has yet to have FDA approval (shipped from Israel). Any thoughts or experiences? A few folks here have mentioned using it. Know that others here have expertise I lack. Thanks.
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@ucbalumnus My parents, both in their 80s just got theirs a couple of weeks ago, knowing they would be attending several graduations for their grandkids, traveling, etc. I didn’t even realize people were getting new boosters and that was when my mother said they were eligible due to being over 65. A few days later my coworker mentioned getting the boosters and said they easily got appts the same day they tried to schedule, despite not being immunocompromised, etc. Perhaps it was just a fluke. I don’t know anyone else who has tried getting one.
If you mean that appointments are easy to find, then that appears to be true, if you check the various pharmacies and health care providers. Or do you mean that people are getting second bivalent boosters without being 65+ or immunocompromised?
I mean, she and her husband easily got an appointment last week and received boosters, even though they are in their 40s and not immunocompromised (this is what she told me).