It's Tuesday, January four. I'm Oscar Ramiors from the Daily Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America. COVID cases continue to rise in the US as the omicron variant proves to be highly transmissible. The rise and infections has reignited the conversation over masks, which now has some doctors and healthcare systems saying cloth masks may not be enough, recommending that you pair them with surgical masks or upgrade to other options like K and nine masks.
Nitty super Roman, science reporter at the Wall Street Journal joins us for What to Know. Thanks for joining us, Nitty, Hi, I wanted to talk about some new developments with what's going on with COVID nineteen Right now, the O macron variant has proven to be very transmissible. We're seeing cases sore to new records all over the United States. Obviously, hospitalizations is a key thing to pay attention when we talk about it, because those are the worst cases. Though
that those are the most troubling ones. But even those numbers have gone up. I know it's a numbers game with a lot of it. Doctors and health experts starting to say, you know, bring masks up in the conversation again. And I know that's a very contentious issue. A lot of people don't want to wear them things like that, But we're starting to see health experts say that cloth masks might not be enough. We might need to step up either double mask or get those K and K
and really step up our game that way. So Niitty, tell us a little bit more about it. So we've seen masks come back up and conversation chiefly, I think, as you pointed out, because experts are watered about how consmissible micron is among people who are not vaccinated, but also even among people who are. So though we know that vaccines are you know, a top form of checking
the virus either from getting sick. Uh. Seriously, people are looking to other aspects of defenses against the virus, like masks, in order to stop this more transmissible variant to the extent that we can. Yeah, And you know, we're seeing the response already come from companies and other places. For example, my wife, she works in an office. They were supposed to go back to work this week after the holiday break.
They sent an email out saying, nobody's coming back. We're working from home this week and now the only acceptable mask to wear in the office are the K and K which they provide them and all. But still they're they're setting those limits already, saying that you know, this is the only thing you can wear for now. That's really interesting. We've heard from doctors who are recommending that people switch over to a stronger version of the mask
beyond just a cloth mask. I think since the beginning of the pandemic, there has generally been an accepted understanding among experts that the more sophisticated masks offer better protection, but that any kind of masking offers some level of
the barriers against transmission of this virus. We know, and we have known for some time, that they are transmitted in droplets when you breathe in and read out, and people initially suspected that even the tinier, tinier particles might carry the virus, and since then it's been confirmed that they do transmit as well in these tiny droplets, and the more robust masks, the K and ninety five grade or the N ninety five grade, can better stop those
tinier particles from spreading as well. And you know, with omcon being so widely prevalent, I think the thinking is that your chance of encountering this is increased. So if you can protect yourself and protect other people, this is something you you should be able to do. Right in your article, you posted an interesting graph that kind of shows, you know, how long it would take to be exposed
to COVID. You know, if somebody was infected and wore a mask or didn't wear a mask, vice versa, what kind of mask, you know, and a person that was not infected, if they were in the same room, how long it would take. And if nobody's wearing anything, you know, in a matter of fifteen minutes, you've been exposed and you could be infected already. You know, if you start wearing surgical masks and ninety five masks, you know, it
obviously takes a lot longer. If both people are wearing surgical masks, it could take up to an hour before you might be infected. If you're wearing these n ninety five mass it's like twenty five hours, you know. So the type of mask, the protections they provide, the better they are. Obviously they do help out a lot, absolutely, yeah, and some of it has to do with the way they are structured in terms of the layers that they
are placed one over the other. Some of the k and some of the surgical masks have a material that is like a plastic that has an electrostatic charge that traps the particles better, so better, you know, stops them from moving around. The other thing that experts point to really as far as making the most effective use of
these is really the fit. So I know it's easy to have you if you have your glasses on and your mask underneath and you sort of shifted around so that it doesn't fog things up, but really having a super tight feel around your face is part of making sure that these are working as they ought to. Because inasmuch as you want the particles from being prevented from going through the masks, if they're coming up over your nose or you know, in gaps, that is something that
what needs to be watching out for as well. We know that obviously the conversation is going around right now, that's why we're talking about it. But what is the official guidance from the CDC right now on this, Because they're not saying they're not, they're still you know, they want any anybody to mask up anyway as possible, just to help out as much. But they have even said, you know, maybe double masking is a smart choice. Yeah.
I think there are some experts who would like the CDC to come out pretty specifically and say this mask over that mask, and say that some master that is another, or even recommend people use a certain kind of mask.
The time this came up recently is when the CDC changed its isolation guidelines for people who have been infected with COVID nineteen, and they proposed that they can come away from isolation if there is symptomatic after five these potentially, but keep a mark on for a certain period of time after that to keep protection at its match. Well, we'll see how the conversation continues around this. Obviously we're seeing the omicron variants spread very quickly, so just be
safe and protect yourself. Nitty super Roman, science reporter at the Wall Street Journal, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been reopening America. Don't forget effort today's big news stories. You can check us out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast