#I would like to note that I was wearing a kn95 the entire time. if I can do it you can too folks we’re not out of the woods with c*vid yet

[re-decorate]

behold, the only semi decent photo i got of myself at my show. plus a pretty pic of the sai during chlorine :P

[michaelgmoore35]

Students have gone missing from school as COVID takes education toll in Colorado

Governor Jared Polis today provided an update on the state’s response to COVID-19 and how the pandemic is affecting Colorado students. He was joined by Commissioner of Education, Dr. Katy Anthes, Superintendent of Aurora Public Schools Rico Munn, and Dr. Chris Rogers, Director of Child and Adolescent Services at the Medical Center of Aurora and President of the Colorado Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Society.

“This pandemic has created unique challenges for hardworking families, teachers, and students so it’s critical that Colorado students are enrolled and receiving the instruction and support they need to continue their education. I encourage everyone including parents, educators, communities, and business leaders to do their part to increase school engagement at all levels because even a few months of lost learning has significant impacts on students,” said Governor Jared Polis. “I applaud the teachers, parents, and loved ones who are going above and beyond in helping kids stay engaged with online and in-person learning and thinking outside the box. My administration is focused on offering as much support as we can to schools across our state to ensure learning continues, while prioritizing both the education of students and the health and safety of students, staff, and teachers.”

“We cannot let our children’s education become a casualty of this pandemic,” Commissioner of Education, Dr. Katy Anthes. “We need parents to enroll students whether it’s for online or in-person learning and the department will continue to work with districts to support all of our students during this challenging time.”

Schools in Colorado are seeing lower enrollment, and many school districts are working hard to reach students and families.

Today the state announced revisions to school outbreak guidelines, providing more tools to school districts that adopt best practices for COVID mitigation like seating charts and mask wearing, to safely quarantine close contacts, instead of automatically quarantining entire cohorts or classrooms of students. This is particularly important for middle and high schools, where it is more difficult to keep students in small cohorts.

The Governor also announced that the state has placed 40 new AmeriCorps members in some of the highest needs schools from the San Luis Valley to the Front Range focused on student outreach and engagement. These AmeriCorps members will help to contact families to help get children enrolled, attending, and engaged in school as soon as possible.

In addition, Gov. Polis announced the Colorado Department of Local Affairs has provided $2.1 million through the Next Step 2-Generation Homelessness Prevention Program to support education-housing partnerships to help provide stable housing for children and families at-risk of experiencing homelessness. These resources will support Adams 14, Sheridan, Brighton 27J, Jefferson County, and Boulder school districts and their partners by helping to house 225 homeless families.

These steps come in addition to the state’s work to help address broadband access for students and support at-home learning. In partnership with the Attorney General’s Office and Colorado Department of Education, the State announced that T-Mobile would be providing 34,000 hotspots to families and $2 million to address broadband connectivity issues and support remote learning last month. In addition, families can watch “Colorado Classroom,”  high-quality K-3 literacy and STEM content taught by master teachers, every Monday through Friday 8-10 am on Rocky Mountain PBS or at RMPBS.org. The Governor reminded families that they can visit stayathomeco.colorado.gov/education for more resources on how to best navigate learning at home.

  Gov. Polis provided an update on the state’s wildfires and how they are affecting air quality. As of Tuesday morning:

Mullen Fire is 77,950 acres and two percent contained

Cameron Peak Fire is now 124,026 acres and 21 percent contained

Middle Fork Fire is 7,897 acres and 0 percent contained

Williams Fork Fire grew to 12,850 acres and is 14 percent contained

Grizzly Creek Fire is unchanged at 32,431 acres and 91 percent contained

  Due to the unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, BRIO has dedicated 100% of their operations to importing critically needed respirator masks. Featuring a 3D comfort design, these KN95 masks provide filtration against particulate pollution, gases, as well as bacteria, viruses, and most odors. It’s made with comfortable stretch fabric and has convenient earloops for a tight fit. These masks are perfect for everyday wear. Order your 5-Pack now!

3D Comfort mask design

Convenient earloop design

Comfortable stretch fabric for tight fit

Easy to put on & remove

Note: These masks are not FDA approved nor are they N95. These masks are tested to meet the standards for Chinese KN-95. Tests confirmed almost 90% of particulate pollution, bacteria and viruses were successfully filtered when the mask was used. 20x more effective than cloth masks.

Specs

Color: white

Materials: 3-layer melt-blown non-woven PPE

Product dimensions: 1″H x 8″L x 5″W

3D Comfort design

KN95 PRC Standard (Similar to NIOSH N95)

CE 0194

FFP2 – EN149 Filtration Level

As of Sunday, September 27, CDPHE has issued 107 Air Quality Health Advisories for Wildfire Smoke across Colorado. That is the 2nd highest number of advisories since they started being tracked in 2011.

[folorunshoayeni]

Is wearing of face mask helpful in the fight against the Coronavirus?

There have been a lot of debates in recent times on the use of face masks; whether to use it or not.There have also been arguments and counter arguments in some quarters on the risk involved in the use of face mask. In fact, a popular cleric in Nigeria recently made a video on why “the wearing of face mask is not science”. However, other body of scientists and international organizations, including government of different countries of the world have made the wearing of face mask compulsory for their citizens. In this piece, I would like to highlight the use of face masks and see whether it is right and important to use it or not. Let us consider this topic under few sections so we can get a broader view of why this trend is now a subject of debate and of contention.

Meaning of face mask/nose mask

According to the Cambridge dictionary, a face mask is a device worn over the nose and mouth to prevent you from breathing in harmful substances such as bacteria or pollution, or from breathing bacteria or viruses to anyone else.

The Collins English dictionary defines face mask as a device that you wear over your face, for example to prevent yourself from breathing bad air or from spreading germs, or to protect your face when you are in a dangerous situation.

Now let’s consider a medical definition of face mask. One group defines face mask as “a barrier device used in infection control to prevent health care providers from breathing or coughing on patients. It is also employed to prevent patients’ sneeze and sputum from making contact with the health care provider’s face or eyes or from being inhaled”.

Another medical definition of face mask is: “face masks are one tool utilized for preventing the spread of diseases. They may also be called dental, isolation, laser, medical, procedure, or surgical masks. Face masks are loose-fitting masks that cover the nose and mouth, and have ear loops or ties or bands at the back of the head.

Having considered the definitions of face masks, let us now consider the different types of face masks and the ones we see people wearing in Nigeria these days to see whether what they’re actually wearing is a face mask or something else.

Generally, we have two types of face masks based on durability or how lasting. The disposable face mask and the reusable (“non-disposable”) face mask/washable face mask. 

The disposable face mask is made of non-woven fibre fabric, and they are soft and skin friendly but they should be disposed after sometime of use. The reusable types are the ones made from materials such as combination of cotton and natural silk or chiffon and they can be washed and ironed and used many times because they are stronger.

Different types of face masks

Face masks are of different types:

• Civilian or homemade cloth face mask

• Surgical or medical face mask

• Respirator

• Dusk mask

Homemade cloth face masks

According to healthline.com, an online heath magazine,” to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus from people without symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised that everyone wears cloth face masks, such as homemade masks, while in public places where it is difficult to maintain a 6-foot distance from others. The recommendations are:

• Wear cloth face masks in public settings, especially in areas of significant community-based transmission, such as grocery stores and pharmacies".

• Don’t put cloth face masks on children under the age of 2, people who have trouble breathing, people who are unconscious, or people who are unable to remove the mask on their own

• Use cloth face mask rather than surgical masks or N95 respirators, as these supplies must be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders.



Surgical face mask

Surgical masks are disposable, loose-fitting face masks that cover your nose, mouth and chin. Surgical masks, also known as procedural or medical masks, are designed to help prevent contamination of the work environment or a sterile field from large particles generated by the wearer/worker to reduce the spread of the wearer’s spit or mucous. They are also used to help reduce the risk of splashes or sprays of blood, body fluids, secretions, and excretions from reaching the wearer’s mouth and nose. Surgical masks may also be worn by patients to help limit the spread of infections.

They are typically used to:

• Protect the wearer from sprays, splashes, and large-particle droplets

• Prevent the spread of potentially infectious respiratory secretions from the wearer to others





Respirator

Respirators are designed to help reduce the wearer’s respiratory exposure to airborne contaminants such as particles, gases, or vapours. In healthcare, it protects from exposure to biological aerosols (e.g., sneezes and coughs) including bacteria and viruses.

Unlike surgical mask, they are designed to seal tight to the face of the wearer. Surgical mask are however not designed to seal tight against the face.

The edge a respirator has over surgical mask is that it is a more tight-fitting face mask. In addition to splashes, sprays, and large droplets, it can also filter out 95% of very small particles. This includes viruses and bacteria. Examples are the N95, P95, KN95 etc. Those respirators that can filter out at least 99.97% or 100% particles are depicted N99, P100, etc.

Note: half face respirators will cover the nose and mouth area, whereas full face respirators will cover the entire face.

Respirators are usually more expensive than surgical masks.





Dusk mask

A dusk mask is a flexible paper pad held over the nose and mouth by elastic rubber straps for personal comfort against non-toxic nuisance dusts. They are not intended to provide protections from toxic airborne hazards. They are used when sweeping and during construction or cleaning activities to prevent dusts. It can also be worn in environments with allergens such as tree and grass pollen.



Brief history on use of face mask

Modern surgical masks began to be used in the 1960s.Their adoption caused the use of cloth face masks to be stopped in the developed world. However, cloth masks and surgical masks are both used these days in developing countries.

They are popularly worn by the general public all year round in East Asian countries like China, South Korea and Taiwan to reduce the chance of spreading airborne diseases to others, and to prevent the breathing in of airborne dust particles created by air pollution.

Additionally, face masks are used in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore during the Southeast Asian haze season. As a result, many companies have released masks that not only prevent infections and dust particles but are also fashionable.



Benefits of wearing the face mask

According to an online health magazine, universal medical.com, “wearing a face mask will help prevent the spread of infection and prevent the individual from contracting any airborne infectious germs. When someone coughs, talks, sneezes, they could release germs into the air that may infect others nearby. Face masks are part of an infection control strategy to eliminate cross-contamination”.

The Guardian, an online news magazine states: “the use of face masks by the public, together with social distancing and washing, prevents the transmission of corona virus and saves life”.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) states:

• As confirmed cases of Covid-19 continue to rise, everyone should wear a cloth mask when they go out in public

• Homemade masks won’t protect someone from getting sick, but they can help prevent the spread of the disease by those with the virus

Just like the CDC, the NCDC (Nigeria Centre for Disease Control) is also sensitizing Nigerians on a daily basis on the need to use the face mask when in public. They know better and I think we should obey these laws set by government for our well being.

These are enough reasons why the use of face masks should be encouraged by everyone as we battle the coronavirus together. We may not continue to wear the mask the rest of our life but let’s ensure we wear the mask when we are in public. 

Dr Segal in today.com, an online journal posited: ”Anything that prevents the spread of respiratory droplets is better than nothing - this is why we're asked to cough or sneeze into our elbows”.

We don't have to do that if we have our face masks handy.