Cloth masks may not protect against omicron, report says

A protective mask like we wore in the military would. The masks they want us to wear don't protect you against viruses.

The problem is the vast majority of Americans do not understand the proper use, storage, maintenance, sanitization disposal and limitations of masks. It doesn't matter whether those masks are cloth or paper, commercially made or homemade.

My wife works for an environmental lab. Pre-pandemic, every time you entered or re-entered the actual lab, a clinical environment, you had to get a new mask. You sanitized your hands BEFORE you grabbed a new mask, and after. If you were handling samples, you had to get a new mask and sanitize your hands every time you worked on a different set of samples.

None of this was to protect you. It was to protect the samples from cross-contamination. AND they weren't even worried about viruses. They were protecting the samples from microbial and bacterial cross contamination.

As and EMT going on a "milk run" (not really an emergency), we mask when we get in the rescue rig. We change masks immediately prior to patient contact. We re-mask before we get back on the rig. We re-mask before we enter the ER. We re-mask before we get on the rig to go back to the firehall. And we dispose of all those masks when we sanitize and re-stock the rig. Depending on the nature of the medical requirements of the run, we may change masks even more frequently.

How many times a day does the average Joe/Jane out doing their errands for the day change their mask out or sanitize their hands? When they get in their car and take off their mask, where do they store it. How many use the same mask all day long? How many then take that mask and sanitize it upon returning to their home? Where do they store it? Why aren't there public service announcements about the proper use, storage, maintenance, sanitization disposal and limitations of masks. The people in charge of public health policy are more concerned about appearing concerned than about actual public health. It not that they want us to fail, they're just in over their heads.