Headline, August 13 2021/ ''' '' MASK GUIDANCE MAST '' '''

''' '' MASK GUIDANCE

 MAST '' '''

HEALTHY VACCINATED PEOPLE WHO are unlikely to face complications have to decide what level of risk they are willing to tolerate. Delta variant is spreading rapidly now and accounts for more than 83 percent of the cases in US and around the world.

! BEWARE ! : PEOPLE INFECTED WITH THE DELTA VARIANT are known to shed much higher levels of virus for longer periods of time compared with earlier lineages of the coronavirus.

One preliminary study estimates that viral load is 1,000 times greater in people with the Delta variant. Those high viral loads give the virus more opportunities to challenge your antibodies and breakthrough your vaccine's protection.

'' This is twice as transmissible as the original lineage of Covid,'' said Dr. Hoetz. '' The reproductive number of virus is around 6,'' he said referring to the number of people a virus carrier is likely to infect. '' That means 85 percent of the population need to be vaccinated. Only a few areas of any country are reaching that.''

MASK GUIDANCE GAINS NUANCE THE WORLD OVER. Whether to step up defenses against Covid-19 variants depends on setting.

As the delta variant of Covid spreads among the unvaccinated, many fully vaccinated people are also beginning to worry. Is it time to mask up again?

While there's no one-size-fits-all answer to the question, most experts agree that masks remain a wise precaution in certain settings for both the vaccinated and unvaccinated. Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommended that fully vaccinated people ''wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission.''

How often you use a mask will depend on personal health tolerance and risk, the infection and vaccination rates in your community, and whom you're spending time with as well as local mandates.

The bottom line is this : While being vaccinated protects against serious illness and hospitalization from Covid-19, the vaccine offers 100 percent protection. As long as large numbers of people remain unvaccinated and continue to spread coronavirus, vaccinated people will be exposed to the Delta-variant, and a smaller percentage of them will develop so-called breakthrough infections.

WHEN IS A MASK NEEDED?

First ask yourself these questions.

.- Are the people I'm with also vaccinated?

.- What's the case rate and vaccination rate in my community?

.- Will I be in a poorly ventilated indoor space, or outside? Will the increased risk of exposure last for a few minutes or for hours?

.- What's my personal risk [or the risk for those around me] for complications from Covid-19?

Experts agree that if everyone you're with is vaccinated and symptoms-free, you don't need to wear a mask.

''I don't wear a mask hanging out with hanging out with other vaccinated people,'' said Dr. Ashish K Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, R.I. ''I don't even think about it. I'm going to the office with a bunch of people, and they're all vaccinated. I'm not worried about it.''

But once you start to venture into enclosed public spaces where the chances of your encountering unvaccinated people are greater, a mask is probably a good idea. Being fully vaccinated remains the strongest protection against Covid-19, but risk is cumulative.

The more opportunities you give the virus to challenge the antibodies you've built up from your vaccine, the higher your risk of coming into contact with a large enough exposure that the virus will break through the protective barrier generated by your vaccine.

For that reason, the case rate and vaccination rate of your community are among the most important factors influencing the need for masks. In Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

For instance, more than 70 percent of adults are fully vaccinated. In Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas, fewer than 45 percent of adults are vaccinated. In some U.S. counties, overall vaccination rates are far lower.

''We're two Covid nations right now,'' said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School Of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas's Children's Hospital. 

In Harris County Texas, where Dr. Hotez lives, case counts have been rising, up by 116 percent over two weeks in July, and less than half the community is fully vaccinated. ''I'm wearing a mask indoors most of the time,'' Dr. Hotez said.

FINALLY, masking is more important in poorly ventilated indoor spaces than outdoors, where risk of infection is extremely low. Dr. Jha notes that he recently dashed into a coffee shop, unmasked, because in his area of the country, infection rates are low and vaccination rates are high.

Your personal risk matters, too. If you are older or immune compromised, your antibody response to the vaccine may not be as strong as a young person's. Avoiding crowded spaces and wearing a mask when you're indoors and don't know the vaccination status of those around is a good idea.

The Honor and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on the Pandemic and the State-of-the-World practises and defenses, continues. to Part 2. The World Students Society thanks author Tara-Parker Pope.

With respectful dedication to the World, and then Students, Professors and Teachers. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter -!E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless