A lot has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged worldwide particularly on how health experts are encouraging the public to protect themselves. Last year, filtering respirators such as the N95 and KN95 varieties were in short supply prompting health authorities to reserve them for medical use only. However, health authorities are now recommending the wearing of N95 and KN95 respirators for the general public instead of opting for low-grade face masks this year.
After the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), another novel virus in COVID-19 is giving hemophiliacs everywhere great concern. With minimal available information and while studies are still ongoing on how the coronavirus can affect individuals with blood diseases, here’s what we know so far.
In British Columbia, Canada, an outbreak of the P.1 Brazilian COVID-19 variant is currently causing panic in the community with close to 300 cases being registered in late March. Perhaps the most alarming thing about this news is how far Brazil is from Canada and considering strict guidelines on international travel, this variant of concern (VOC) is proving to be one of the more contagious strains today.
A few weeks before she was set to celebrate her birthday, French nun Lucile Randon (or Sister Andre to those closest to her), tested positive for COVID-19. Though she did not feel any major symptoms, she placed herself in quarantine inside her Toulon home for fear that she might pass on the virus to other residents.
With the increasing demand for medical-grade N95 and KN95 respirators that can provide healthcare workers a 95% level of protection against COVID-19, supplies are quickly running out and forcing some medical staff to wear surgical masks instead.
While vaccines continue to make headlines across the globe, face masks such as N95 and KN95 respirators cannot be simply dropped out of the news radar as more contagious COVID-19 strains are spreading infection like wildfire globally.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic upended people’s lives all over the world, more have reported experiencing depression and anxiety from being in quarantine. To mitigate the spread of the virus, worldwide lockdowns forced people in their homes and out of touch with friends and family.
As early as July last year, Americans have already accepted how face masks will remain commonplace into the future. One McKinsey survey reported that 88% of Americans believed that COVID-19’s infection rate will reduce in nine months. Evidently, the opposing 12% proved to be more correct with the U.S. reaching its record-high of 402,270 new cases on December 20 last year and coming to a total of 30.2 million infected individuals to date.