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Abraar Karan Profile picture
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1 Jan, 7 tweets, 4 min read
1/ A short & friendly thread on masks for NYE

To start, the mask that we were all supposed to have from 2008 that isn't in production anymore for unclear reasons.

It was replaced by bandannas when no one was paying attention.

I present:

The 3M 8670F

2/ Next we have the 3M 1870+

If you're a healthcare worker and you can get fit tested for this, do it.

You can work out in this.

You can scream at the CDC in this.

You can do basically anything in this. @CDCDirector you gotta try this one.

3/ Then we have the cousin of the 1870+

the 3M 9205+

This is the mask that shockingly has been hiding at your local Home Depot but that could have been your go-to for the past 2 yrs

Seems like the 8670F in disguise

We can blame Home Depot (or the CDC)
4/ Next we have the notorious 3M 1860 hardshell

Has ruined many a healthcare workers nose-bridges

I'm pretty sure @CDCDirector has had to wear this one.

Agreed- not the most comfortable (although neither is a ventilator but anyways)
5/ Now we come to the GVS N99

As @j_g_allen pointed out in his recent thread--for the N95 die-hards, why stop there?

But 99 isn't 100 you say? Read on.

6/ Last but not least-- you can go into the new year in style with the GVS P100.

If this thing can't stop Covid, nothing can.

Honestly, may also double as a Halloween costume

or at least keep people '6 feet away' (not a real thing but w/e)

Ignore the basil in the background
7/ Last but not least-- to all the cloth masks that tried their best these past two years...we salute you for your service.

Thanks to everyone who has pushed for #BetterMasks - so many folks out there but especially to @sri_srikrishna @RanuDhillon - its been a long ride.

HNY!

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More from @AbraarKaran

Abraar Karan Profile picture
1 Jan
1/ People that are arguing about what kind of masks are “good enough”

What we are asking for— “better masks”— is literally the *bare minimum*

We are in a respiratory pandemic that has killed over 820,000 Americans.

Asking for better PPE for the public is *a TINY ask*
2/ Will better masks alone stop #covid19 epidemic?

Obviously not. This epidemic has been driven by insane societal inequities & profit-driven structures

We wrote about this in NPR.

We aren’t naive to think masks are the be all end all!

npr.org/sections/healt…
3/ But our government and institutions and the way society is fundamentally structured has proven that at this point, in yet another surge, the most tangible ask is to get people something immediately that they can put on their face and be as protected as possible.

Bare minimum.
Read 6 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
31 Dec 21
On this platform, there has always— since day 1– been pushback even from ‘experts’ incl infectious disease docs that N95 & other respirators aren’t needed

I don’t buy it

If every essential worker was wearing a better mask since March 2020, things would have been VERY different.
2/ I was in the Covid 19 emergency room @BrighamWomens in April 2020

Most of the people infected were frontline workers and their family members

None of them were wearing high filtration masks in their workplaces

They brought infections back home
3/ During surges, IF the public had been provided w/ a comfortable respirator such as 3M 9205 from the start— I can bet they would NOT have gone back to cloth or unfitted surgical

Once you wear this mask, you’ll understand

And a version of this ⬇️⬇️ was *supposed* to be there
Read 5 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
30 Dec 21
So there was a respirator FOR THE PUBLIC for emergencies such as a PANDEMIC by 3M from 2008

How in the hell did CDC recommend cloth masks for this long instead of pushing the federal government to scale up production for every single American immediately 2 years ago?????
Link here — note the date: 2008

multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/5079…

h/t @AeonCoin
And this looks *a lot* like the 3M 1870– the respirator that is so comfortable I did an entire workout in the gym with absolutely no issues at all if we are going to bring this back to N95 being ‘uncomfortable’

I just don’t get why

Cc @CDCDirector @WhiteHouse @Surgeon_General
Read 10 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
29 Dec 21
In a viral surge, time is everything, esp with exponential spread. It means you cannot reasonably vaccinate your way out. You cannot depend on test results that take days to come back. You cannot hedge on quarantining or isolating. You cannot wait to start using better masks.
2/ You essentially need a way to stun transmission. Many have called for circuit breaker events in which any social interaction that could introduce transmission stops altogether outside of households (a “lockdown”)

However, I don’t think this is necessary to achieve this.
3/ This was part of our proposal in May 2020 in this piece. With enough people wearing the right respiratory protection— that is, masks with excellent filtration AND source control— you could achieve close to the same thing without shutting down.

hbr.org/amp/2020/05/a-…
Read 4 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
29 Dec 21
One of the problems w/ CDC isolation guidelines is it hinges on many assumptions, some which may be clarified with more data tomorrow, and others which cannot be clarified or even really monitored/guaranteed by any means

1/
First assumption is that most people are barely transmitting after day 5. This might be true- but I haven't seen that data the way it was shown for transmission early on which helped to create the 10 day protocol

Esp need that data for people w/ Omicron specifically

2/
Second assumption is that people who are done isolating and feel better will actually wear a mask at all

Third assumption is that cloth masks or whatever people are using that are not high filtration actually have good source control (no good data saying this is true)

3/
Read 10 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
29 Dec 21
1/ People are rightfully concerned that cases who are out of isolation too early can still transmit (they can)

And CDC guidelines hinge on people wearing masks for the 5 days after (they should)

But they should be wearing a high filtration mask.

Better source control.
2/ Part of our push for HiFi masks was not only to protect the wearer, but also to protect those around the wearer esp because people transmit before they show any symptoms at all
3/ From NIOSH scientists on source control provided by cloth masks versus respirators here

Respirators are much better. Fit is of course still very important as well.

tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
Read 4 tweets

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