As the omicron variant continues to spread rapidly across the country, medical experts are now recommending people switch from using basic cloth masks to more effective medical-grade masks. "If you want maximum protection, an N95 or KN95, those kinds of masks are just much more effective," Jason Salemi, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida, said.Salemi says the extra protection is needed to try and slow the spread of this latest variant. "A single layer cloth mask is absolutely better than wearing no mask at all but the problem is those cloth masks, they may pick up the larger droplets but they don't pick up really small aerosols and we know that this virus is passed as an aerosol," he said. Salemi says when it comes to omicron, even those vaccinated should be switching to medical masks."It's much more likely to pass from person to person, that's what we call transmissibility. It's also much more likely to evade certain aspects of our immune system so it's more likely to infect vaccinated people as well as people who have had a prior infection," Salemi said. But with high demand comes worries of another shortage. Early on in the pandemic, N95 masks became almost impossible to find. To make sure that doesn't happen again, Salemi says companies and the government need to step up."The recommendations are out there. It's the job now of manufactures and the federal government to make sure that enough of these are going to exist for everybody to be able to make use of them," Salemi said. 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
ORLANDO, Fla. — As the omicron variant continues to spread rapidly across the country, medical experts are now recommending people switch from using basic cloth masks to more effective medical-grade masks.
"If you want maximum protection, an N95 or KN95, those kinds of masks are just much more effective," Jason Salemi, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida, said.
Salemi says the extra protection is needed to try and slow the spread of this latest variant.
"A single layer cloth mask is absolutely better than wearing no mask at all but the problem is those cloth masks, they may pick up the larger droplets but they don't pick up really small aerosols and we know that this virus is passed as an aerosol," he said.
Salemi says when it comes to omicron, even those vaccinated should be switching to medical masks.
"It's much more likely to pass from person to person, that's what we call transmissibility. It's also much more likely to evade certain aspects of our immune system so it's more likely to infect vaccinated people as well as people who have had a prior infection," Salemi said.
But with high demand comes worries of another shortage.
Early on in the pandemic, N95 masks became almost impossible to find.
To make sure that doesn't happen again, Salemi says companies and the government need to step up.
"The recommendations are out there. It's the job now of manufactures and the federal government to make sure that enough of these are going to exist for everybody to be able to make use of them," Salemi said.
