January 12, 2022 – The CDC is preparing to update its recommendations for COVID-19 masks to emphasize the use of N95 and KN95 masks, which better filter the virus, said on Wednesday Director Rochelle Valenski, Dr. Rochelle Valenski.
“We are preparing an update to the information on our mask website to best reflect the options available to people and the different levels of protection that different masks provide, and we want to provide Americans with the best and most up-to-date information. “To choose what kind of mask it is will be right for them,” she said at a White House briefing.
While better quality masks provide better protection, they can be uncomfortable to wear, expensive and harder to find. That is why Valenski added an important warning.
“Every mask is better than no mask, and we encourage all Americans to wear a well-fitting mask to protect themselves and prevent the spread of COVID-19. That recommendation will not change, “she said.
“The most important thing is that the best mask you wear is the one you will wear and the one you can wear all day and wear in public indoors.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has been more focused on vaccines.
WHO officials stressed on Wednesday that the global spread of vaccines is a top priority in defeating the highly contagious version of Omicron, as well as other options that may be evolving.
The WHO Technical Advisory Group on the Composition of COVID-19 Vaccines, a group of experts assessing how COVID-19 vaccines work against Omicron and other emerging options, says there is an “urgent need” for greater access to vaccines, together by reviewing and updating current vaccines if necessary to ensure protection.
The WHO has also challenged the idea that COVID-19 could become endemic to a largely vaccinated nation while leaving the rest of the world unprotected.
“It’s up to us how this pandemic develops,” said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical manager for the COVID-19 response, at a news briefing.
The WHO aims to vaccinate 70% of the population in each country by the middle of the year.
But currently 90 countries have not yet reached 40% vaccination rates, and 36 of these countries have less than 10% of their population vaccinated, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adanom Gebrejesus, Ph.D.
A staggering 85% of Africa’s population has not received their first dose.
But progress is being made, Gebreyes told a briefing.
The WHO said more than 15 million cases of COVID-19 were reported last week – in a week at most – and this is likely an understatement.
The Omicron variant, first identified in South Africa two months ago and now found on all seven continents, “is rapidly replacing Delta in almost all countries,” Gebreyesus said.
Back at the White House in Washington, Valensky said the average daily number of COVID-19 cases in the United States this week was 751,000, an increase of 47 percent from last week. The average daily hospital admission this week is 19,800, an increase of 33%. Deaths have risen by 40% to 1,600 a day.
But she also reported new data that supports other research showing that Omicron can cause less severe disease. Kaiser Permanente in Southern California released a study Tuesday that found Omicron associated with a 53% reduction in hospitalizations, a 74% reduction in intensive care admissions and a 91% lower risk of death compared to Delta infections.
In the study, no patient with Omicron needed mechanical ventilation. The strain now accounts for 98% of cases nationwide.
But Valenski warned that the lower severity of the disease was not enough to compensate for the huge number of cases that continue to overwhelm hospital systems.
“While we see early evidence that Omicron is less severe than Delta and that those infected are less likely to need to be hospitalized, it is important to note that Omicron continues to be much more portable than Delta,” she said. . “The sudden increase in cases due to Omicron is leading to an unprecedented daily number of cases, illnesses, absences and burdens on our healthcare system.”