Friday, March 29, 2024

Recommendations on Cloth Face Coverings, going to the grocery store

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OKANOGAN - All of us involved in the COVID-19 response know that protecting our health workers and first responders is vital for each and every one of us. That is why our limited supplies of commercial Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) have been reserved for them.

Okanogan County Public Health, Washington State Department of Health, and the CDC now recommend wearing cloth face coverings in public places where you cannot reliably stay six feet away from other people. This might include weekly trips to the grocery store, or a necessary trip to the doctor’s office or pharmacy. Or it could be more frequent, if you are an essential worker, and your job unavoidably brings you within six feet of people.

 

The scientific evidence on masking by the general public is not so clear. One downside of public masking is the idea that masks might make us feel too safe, and reduce our attention to handwashing, surface cleaning, social distancing, and other critical measures. We think cloth face coverings may reduce some additional spread, but, still, the best way to prevent spread of COVID-19 is washing your hands thoroughly and frequently, not touching your face, and staying at home as much as possible. Face coverings will not work without clean hands and good social distance. And don’t put a cloth face covering on a child under age two.

 

Until supplies of commercially made masks are available, members of the public who want masks should be using homemade ones. Masks with three layers of cotton material will work. They can have elastic ear loops or ties that go around the back of the head.

 

If you aren’t able to sew a mask, you can use something such as a cotton scarf or bandana folded into three layers that will cover your nose and mouth and tied behind your head.

 

 

The Governor is asking Washington State manufacturing businesses to help in this effort, and the prospects are good that thousands of masks can be made available quickly. In the meantime, you will need to make or adapt your own face covering.

 

 

But here’s a caution. Once you have worn one for a while – certainly after a day’s use – be careful when removing it not to touch its outside surface. That’s where the virus will be. Wash those used masks in hot water and dry them on high heat – that will kill the virus. And if you have a collection of used masks, treat them as contaminated by carefully dropping them into a sealable plastic bag until you can carefully dump them into a washing machine. Then throw the bag in a garbage can. In health care, we know that taking off PPE carelessly is as risky as wearing it incorrectly, so use special care when you have finished with the mask.

 

 

Sewing patterns for masks can be found online at these locations:

 

 

https://www.confluencehealth.org/covid19-donations/ (See video link at right of page.)

 

https://www.joann.com/make-to-give-response/

 

Going to the Grocery Store

Everyone is safest from COVID-19 when we all stay in our homes, but, eventually, even the best stocked of us need to go to the grocery store. Grocery stores are working hard to keep their employees and customers as safe as possible.

 

Some grocery stores are helping us stay six feet apart from each other by providing signage or spacing markers on the floor. Others are monitoring traffic flow and focusing on helping us stay six feet apart when lines begin to form. And some are limiting the total number of people in the store at any one time.

 

Like all of us, grocery store employees should not work when they are sick, wash their hands frequently, use hand sanitizers, and refrain from touching their faces.

 

Keep yourself and grocery stores as safe as possible

Limit the number of times you go to a grocery store to once a week or even less frequently.

Shop with a list and like you mean business. Save the browsing for later! The less time you are in there, the better!

Shop by yourself, if possible, to help limit the number of people in the aisles.

Better yet, can you take a neighbor’s list with you and shop for them while you are at it?

Shop at less popular times when the stores will be less crowded.

Wearing a cloth face covering to protect others in case you have COVID-19 but haven’t developed any symptoms.

Don’t touch your face! Avoid using your phone, putting on chapstick, scratching your beard, or doing anything that would bring your hands into contact with your face.

Use hand sanitizer when you get in the car.

Wash your hands thoroughly when you get home.

You can toss packaging and wipe down bottles when you get home, but do NOT put disinfectants like bleach or cleaning products on your produce or directly onto your food, that is bad for you. 

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