KN95 masks to be offered to students this school year

Utah’s schools will not require face coverings this year but will provide a K95 or KN95 mask, according to Governor Spencer Cox.To get more news about quality type II mask factory, you can visit tnkme.com official website.

State law currently prevents a mask mandate in schools. The Utah Department of Health, in their recommendations for schools released on Monday, did encourage vaccination and mask-wearing, among other strategies.

However, as Gov. Cox explains, local health departments can issue mask mandates for schools in conjunction with elected county officials. The mandate could stand for 30 days before the county council or commission would need to approve that moving forward.“There is a possibility, if outbreaks occur, for local health departments, in conjunction with their county officials at the local level to implement mask mandates,” Gov. Cox adds.

He continues, explaining there is a solution to beat the virus – the COVID-19 vaccine – for everyone 12-years-old and older. While there is no vaccine currently approved for those younger than 12, Gov. Cox says there is a “next best thing” – wearing high-quality masks. Wearing masks is not only effective for those too young to get the vaccine, but those who are otherwise unable to get the shot.Gov. Cox says that because of this, he has directed his team to provide KN95 masks to every school-aged child that wants one. He explains the decision was made because it is currently unclear how well cloth masks protect against the Delta variant but it is known KN95 and N95 masks do work much better to block the virus.

“We will be purchasing those now, we will make those available to schools so children and parents who want their child to be masked – under the age of 11 – will have…the opportunity to have available at no cost to them a KN95 mask,” Gov. Cox announced during Tuesday’s press conference.He went on to cite conversations he has had with teachers at the lower grade levels and CDC data for those in kindergarten and first grade that mask-wearing can inhibit developmental and verbal skills. Gov. Cox continues, saying parents and families should have conversations about mask-wearing for students.

According to the governor, these masks will be made available to all schools in Utah and each school will also have funds to purchase masks.

After a long hard year of dealing with COVID-19, most people are, quite frankly, sick of it. And who could blame them? With vaccines being distributed more and more widely, and numbers on a downswing, it can be easy to let your guard down.To get more news about famous FFP2 mask company, you can visit tnkme.com official website.

But even as we approach the finish line, it is important to remember that we aren’t there yet. In fact, officials warn that we might be in store for a 4th wave of COVID-19 infections. More disconcerting? New variants of the virus keep emerging, some of which doctors don’t yet fully understand.

Almost all medical professionals agree that wearing a mask and social distancing are still two of your best bets in helping to save lives and prevent the spread of COVID-19. But when it comes to what kind of mask, that is when things get tricky.

Up until recently, the medical community agreed that N95 masks should be saved for health care providers and that surgical or reusable cotton masks were adequate for most Americans everyday use.

Then a tweet by former CDC Director Dr. Tom Friedan threw a wrench in the works. On January 26th he wrote, “N95 masks are the most protective masks, followed by three-ply surgical masks, then fabric masks. A fabric mask is a lot better than no mask, but we may need to step up our mask game if contagious Covid variants start to spread widely.”

And now N95 masks are popping up online and at retail stores. Is a cloth mask still your best choice or should you consider getting a N95 mask? Is it ethical for an average American to purchase one of these masks? Or is it going to hurt health care workers and other front-line workers? And what about KN95 masks from China?One of the most important things to keep in mind with a N95 respirator is the fit. If your mask does not fit perfectly snug around your entire mouth and chin area, it is not properly protecting you.

When medical professionals receive their N95 respirators at hospitals, they are put through a thorough fit test, which is difficult for the individual consumer to accomplish.

Dr. Irfan Hafiz, infectious disease specialist and Chief Medical Officer at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, also warns that when worn correctly N95 masks, while effective, aren’t exactly comfortable:

“An N95 mask does need fit testing to work as it is intended. When an N95 is worn correctly, it is hard to walk and talk in. If you are comfortable in an N95, then you probably aren’t wearing it correctly.”

As of February, 3M, a major US producer of N95 respirators, acknowledged that they have still been struggling to keep up with the demand for their masks.

This fact may be surprising to some, but as the N95 masks are all single use, there has been a constant flow of demand for over a year from hospitals and medical facilities all over the country.

The good news is that most supply-chain issues have been worked out, and the situation is much better than it was at the beginning of the pandemic. And with the rise of private companies companies getting into the game, there should be enough masks to go around, if not now, then in the very near future.

Mask wars: Countries face off over how to cover up

Several countries are mandating medical-grade masks in community settings as more infectious coronavirus variants spread across Europe, relegating homemade cloth masks to the outdated health recommendations of 2020. But many others, as well as the World Health Organization, are standing behind their support of fabric face coverings. To get more news about famous FFP2 mask supplier, you can visit tnkme.com official website.

Experts calling for widespread use of more protective masks say it comes down to a fundamental disagreement about what kind of science is “good enough” to support their policy recommendations. This dispute over the evidence on masks — along with concerns over costs, supply and the accessibility of more protective coverings — is holding back most countries from upgrading their mask recommendations.It’s been a tumultuous ride. In March 2020, the World Health Organization’s line was that masks weren't needed for healthy people. Then, in April, it significantly softened its stance, and its subsequent mask guidance iterations became increasingly more accepting of the value of masks in the community. European governments followed suit and became the unlikely source of “how-to” guides for making cloth masks.

Since then, apart from the occasional protest against lockdown restrictions and mask mandates, the debate has mostly died down in Europe — in contrast to some other countries, such as the United States.

But as more infectious virus variants began spreading across Europe, some countries, including Germany, Austria and France, have tightened rules, in some cases making FFP2 masks (often known as N95 masks in the U.S. and KN95 in Asia) compulsory in more densely populated settings.

The German state of Bavaria mandated FFP2 protective masks in January, which was quickly followed by a country-wide obligation to wear a medical-grade mask inside shops or on public transport. On January 25, Austria jumped on the bandwagon, specifically requiring FFP2 masks in these situations. France, meanwhile, has recommended against wearing some homemade masks that don’t meet certain standards.

“Whereas fabric masks, or blue and white surgical masks, stop you breathing out infectious virus onto other people, FFP2 masks are also designed to protect the wearer from breathing in infectious virus shed in aerosols from infected individuals,” explained Lawrence Young, professor of molecular oncology at the Warwick Medical School, of the science behind the new recommendations.

But many other European countries, as well as the WHO, are sticking to their current advice. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, says there's no evidence yet of a change in the mode of transmission — and she emphasized the WHO isn't planning on changing its advice. The “limited and inconsistent scientific evidence” on masks in community settings is grounds for not recommending higher-grade masks, she says.