Wear two surgical masks to step up protection against Omicron: Yuen Kwok-yung

Citizens can wear two surgical masks at a time to increase air filtration and protect themselves against the highly contagious Omicron Covid variant, government advisor Yuen Kwok-yung said.

Speaking after inspecting a North Point residential building with suspected vertical transmission, Yuen brought up an advice by the United States' Centre for Disease Control and Prevention for people to wear N95 respirators for high protection.

But he said wearing N95s is not necessary in Hong Kong, as the city only observes dozens of cases per day, comparing to hundred of thousands of infections every day in western countries.

He also said it is not feasible for a person to wear an N95 for an entire day as one can suffer from shortness of breath after wearing the thick mask for some time.

Yuen, wearing an N95 to the inspection, said: “I’ve been talking with this mask on for 10 minutes and I already am having shortness of breath.”

He said N95s are much more expensive than surgical ones and there will not be sufficient stocks for ordinary citizens to wear a new N95 respirator for each day.

Also, to properly wear N95s for maximized protection, users should go through fit tests to find the most suitable size and model for them.

“So what can be done is to wear two surgical masks to increase protection and filtration,” he said.

“For those who fear Omicron transmission, or are exposed to high infection risks, for example airport workers, you may consider wearing a cloth mask on top of a surgical mask.”

However, Yuen once again called for citizens to get jabbed as soon as possible, as studies have proven vaccines are effective in alleviating symptoms and facilitating quicker recovery upon infections.

“Those who have not been vaccinated are more likely to develop into serious conditions and maintain a considerably high viral count for a longer period,” he said. “All of these are not good. They are not good to the patient, and not good to his close contacts.”

Yuen’s suggestions for people to wear two surgical masks together have aroused heated debate on the internet and Swedish furniture chain IKEA was quick to make fun of it.

In one Facebook post yesterday, IKEA shared a photo of its water-proof double bed cover and wrote on the photo: “Use two… for more protection!”

In the caption it said: “OK, just kidding… I (am) afraid your bed can hardly breathe.”

Netizens commented under the post praising public relations officers in IKEA to be “following the news closely” and for transforming current affairs into witty jokes.

]This came as the US CDC is reportedly considering to update its mask guideline to recommend people choose N95 or KN95 – another version of respirator that also filters out 95 percent of small particles – which are usually worn by medics, instead of common options including cloth or surgical masks to battle the highly contagious Omicron variant.

When the CDC issued its initial guideline on masking in 2020, it did not urge the use of the more protective face coverings but encouraged the use of cloth and surgical masks fearing health workers might be unable to get them. 

The updated guideline is expected to say that the best mask is the one that is worn “consistently and correctly.”

The CDC guidance is expected to say that if people can “tolerate wearing a KN95 or N95 mask all day, you should.”