COVID-19: WHO updates mask use recommendations. Find out what’s changing – News



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The main changes, particularly in community or collective broadcast areas, are the wider use of masks in health care facilities and the specifics on the use of non-medical masks for the general public. The previous update of the WHO recommendations on the use of masks dated 5 June.

WHO continues to advise that anyone who suspects or confirms that they have contracted COVID-19, or who is awaiting test results, should wear a surgical mask when in the presence of other people, this does not apply to who expects results in order to travel. In all other cases, WHO suggests that the public wear non-surgical masks.

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In areas of known or suspected transmission of the new coronavirus, “WHO recommends everyone to wear a mask, indoors or outdoors, where it is not possible to maintain a physical distance of at least one meter”, the new recommendations suggest.

In health care facilities, all people inside should follow this rule.

Inpatients should wear a mask when physical distance cannot be maintained or when they are outside the treatment areas.

The WHO reports that in confined spaces with multiple people, everyone “should wear a mask, unless ventilation is rated as adequate.”

In the case of home visits, “people should wear a mask when receiving visitors if they cannot keep their distance or assess whether the ventilation is good,” the document says.

The WHO also recommends that people not wear masks during strenuous physical activity because these “may reduce the ability to breathe comfortably.”

In this case, “the most important preventive measure is to maintain a physical distance of at least one meter and ensure good ventilation during exercises”, accompanied by proper cleaning and disinfection of the environment.

Another novelty

Another novelty is the fact that WHO does not recommend the production and use of masks with exhalation valve because they “bypass the filtering function of the cloth mask”.

Even in the healthcare setting, exhalation valves on respirators are discouraged, “as they ignore the filtering function of exhaled air,” the paper explains.

WHO warns that “masks should be used as part of a comprehensive package of measures that help reduce the spread of COVID-19” because “a mask alone, even when used correctly, is insufficient to provide adequate protection” , inform the document.

According to a report by the French agency AFP, the COVID-19 pandemic has already caused at least 1,468,873 deaths in more than 63.2 million cases of infection worldwide.

The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China.

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