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Abraar Karan Profile picture
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22 Jan, 4 tweets, 3 min read
Quoted in @BostonGlobe piece alongside @linseymarr @ScottGottliebMD & others — I’m all for double masking as a temporary backstop/better fit— but we need to keep pushing for certified & tested protection w/ HiFi masks as many other countries have already

bostonglobe.com/2021/01/22/nat…
2/ Why is a Macgyver’d double mask becoming the new standard? If we don’t push for HiFi masks, we will not get HiFi masks.

Other countries have either been doing this since last spring (S Korea) or pushing for it now (Germany, Austria) #covid19 @sri_srikrishna @RanuDhillon
3/ We should focus on creating a regulated, certified supply chain for KN95s, KF94s, FFP2s, & N95s - these should be widely available, ideally subsidized or free for high risk/ lower income/ vuln grps— & should be used in higher risk situations involving indoors & crowding.
4/ Again- South Korea saw this is a problem (w/ a solution) back in March 2020. Their government stepped in. They made sure pharmacies had KF94 masks available & were not going to profit off these. This was about public health. This was almost a year ago

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More from @AbraarKaran

Abraar Karan Profile picture
22 Jan
Remember that the Korean government literally bought 80% of the nation’s KF94 masks (N95 equivalent) & shipped them to pharmacies at a discounted price to make sure the general public had access to #BetterMasks— in MARCH 2020.

#covid19 @POTUS
nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opi…
2/ “As Koreans learned of the scale and aggressiveness of #Covid19, first from Chinese reports, then from a surge of cases at home, the mask with the weave and construction that proved most effective against the virus could not be found, except at exorbitant prices online.”
Cc @RanuDhillon @sri_srikrishna @linseymarr @MonicaGandhi9 @zeynep @jeremyphoward @meganranney @getusppe @ashishkjha @Atul_Gawande
Read 5 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
20 Jan
1/ This is big— Germany now mandating medical grade masks for all citizens in public transport & in supermarkets (last week only done in Bavaria region, which is even stricter- only FFP2 masks)

Germany is calling for FFP2, N95, KN95 or surgical masks

washingtonpost.com/world/europe/e…
2/ “Meanwhile in France, the country’s health advisory council on Monday discouraged the wearing of inefficient cloth and homemade masks, also arguing they may not offer sufficient protection against the more highly transmissible coronavirus variants.”
3/ “The new European recommendations follow increases in supply since the early days of the pandemic, when there were concerns that the use of medical masks by the public would mean there would not be enough for front-line medical workers.”

Read that again. ⬆️ SUPPLY
Read 7 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
19 Jan
Short 🧵

1/ Just as #B117 #covid19 variant is spreading more effectively, so too do each of our interventions have to be that much more effective

•masks— need better source control & personal protection

•testing— scaled up + smarter use of rapid antigen tests for control
2/
•Tracing— needs to be much faster; digital tracing was used in other countries, NY & others tried an opt in system via apps, unclear how that did

•Isolating — other countries used isolation spaces outside of the home- our efforts here started but didn’t seem to pick up
3/ •vaccines— we know this effort has been very inefficient; many others have opined strategies for how to improve

•quarantine— similar to isolation above; need masks at home, need paid time off for folks; otherwise, people will do what they need to survive/ put food on table
Read 4 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
15 Jan
Interesting albeit limited report here
7 infected #covid19 patients asked to wear:

-no mask
-surgical mask
-KF94
-N95

and asked to cough 5 times into petri dishes

Swabs taken from inside + outside of masks and measured growth on dishes

What did they find?
#covid19
2/ In 3 out of 7 cases, virus was detected in the petri dish when wearing no mask or wearing a surgical mask

When wearing the Hi-Fi mask, no virus was detected.

Both inside + outside of surgical masks w/ detectable virus

Only the inside of Hi-Fi masks w/ detectable virus
3/ This attempts to get at *source control*

We will have more and more people walking around not even knowing they are sick or contagious

The better masks these people have, presumably lower chance they spread this #covid19
Read 5 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
15 Jan
1/ #BetterMasks - why and how

First, why do we even need high-filtration masks right now?

Increasingly, we are going to be (or already are) in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces- groceries, public transit, work, school etc
#covid19

2/ If can agree that we need these...what qualities should these masks have?

We talk about that in our @HarvardBiz piece on #BetterMasks

Fit
Filtration
Comfort
Affordability
Scalability
Style

#covid19

hbr.org/2020/06/we-nee…
3/ Given huge delays in getting any of this done...what options are available right now, off the shelf?

One of these - elastomeric (eN95s) which are used in different industries and were used by some hospitals can get job done

#covid19
hbr.org/2020/10/essent…
Read 16 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
15 Jan
Short🧵
1/
So @CDCgov on their “Your Guide to Masks” has a section saying don’t use N95s or surgical masks for the general public bc they are reserved for healthcare workers. That is their reason. They invoke a *shortage of supply* as their main rationale
cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…
2/ On a separate page, they talk about the presumption that most transmission of #covid19 is happening via droplets but in *special circumstances* transmission happens via aerosols as well

What are those?

Enclosed spaces w/ poor ventilation

cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…
3/ In those situations, N95 & other high filtration masks are key. @cdcgov if there’s a supply issue then *fix* it

Bc being in enclosed crowded spaces is not a *special circumstance*

Many Americans find themselves in these situations every single day, from transit to groceries
Read 8 tweets

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