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Should you keep wearing a mask after mandates end? Here are the factors to consider

Kelly Lyell
Fort Collins Coloradoan

With Larimer County’s mask mandate expiring, many people who have worn face coverings simply to comply with the public health order are likely to stop.

But some are wondering if it's wise to forgo a mask, given that positivity rates and case counts for COVID-19 remain relatively high, especially with the more-contagious omicron variant still circulating widely.

Christian L’Orange, a Colorado State University professor who has been heavily involved in testing the quality and effectiveness of various masks throughout the pandemic, said there’s nothing inherent in the aerosol transmission of COVID-19 that warrants the change. What has changed, L’Orange said, is the willingness of people to accept the risk of transmitting or contracting a virus that has been responsible for more than 906,000 deaths in the U.S. over the past two years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“When the virus strains and variants we were seeing were highly deadly, there was a massive risk of serious long-term health outcomes if you got sick,” L’Orange said Wednesday in the testing laboratory at CSU’s Powerhouse Energy Campus. “Then the burdens and the restrictions that came with wearing a mask were appropriate for the level of risk we had then.

“You can go to the far other extreme and say the virus is moving toward a less-lethal, less-long-term-health-effects trajectory. It’s questionable but moving in that direction, and then the risk that comes with getting infected may be low enough that the burden associated with wearing masks is not worth it.

“So it’s a cost-benefit analysis.”

L’Orange, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, went on to answer many of the questions people are likely to have about mask-wearing moving forward.

Christian L'Orange, an assistant professor at CSU, provides a tour of the lab that tests N-95 masks at Powerhouse Energy Campus in Fort Collins on Jan. 13.

Should we still be wearing masks in public after the Larimer County requirement expires Saturday?

That depends on your willingness to accept the risks associated with contracting COVID-19 or other seasonal viruses, including the flu and common cold, and your concern about possibly spreading those viruses to others, L’Orange said.

Masks that cover the nose and mouth are still a highly effective way to limit the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses. The better the mask, the more effective it will be.

More:Colorado State University to keep mask mandate in place after Larimer County's ends

Is it useless to wear a cloth mask? Why are N95s more effective?

The N95 masks, with straps that wrap around the back of the head to form a tight seal over the user’s face, are the most effective, L’Orange said. When worn properly, they filter 95% or more of the air inhaled and exhaled by the user, making it extremely unlikely that enough of the particles containing the COVID-19 virus to cause infection could pass through.

Masks with the N95 seal are regulated and tested for their effectiveness by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The KN95 masks, which have the same 95% or higher filtration quality as the N95 when worn properly, use straps that wrap around the user’s ears instead of the back of the head. If you can get a proper seal over the face, with no leaks, they’re just as effective as the N95s.

The effectiveness of other masks varies based on the materials they’re made of and their ability to form a proper seal over the mouth and nose of the user, L’Orange said. The more air that can leak through gaps in the mask, the less effective they are.

So surgical masks tend to be better than homemade cloth masks, and masks with straps that loop around the user’s ears or head are generally more effective than neck gaiters or bandanas.

“Any mask is still better than no mask at all,” L’Orange said.

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Should masks be worn around others outdoors, or only indoors?

Although known outdoor transmission of COVID-19 is rare, it’s still possible under certain circumstances, L’Orange said.

“The risk is much lower, but the risk isn’t zero,” he said.

The amount of time you’re around other people, the distance between you, the amount of airflow and how sick or contagious somebody is are all factors that come into play in making that determination.

For instance, L’Orange said he would feel uncomfortable even before the COVID-19 virus was identified, if somebody sneezed on the back of his neck during an outdoor concert.

“If I was in an environment where I thought that was likely, I might wear my mask,” he said. “It’s about being smart about what your risk might be and what your risk acceptance is.”

More:PSD shifts to a 'mask-friendly' district on Monday. Here's what we know about the change.

Is there a set amount of time or specific distance that it’s relatively safe to be unmasked around others?

There is nothing magical about the six feet or 15 minutes in close proximity that contact tracers used, L’Orange said, particularly in an indoor setting without some sort of enhanced ventilation. Those figures were guidelines that experts came up with while analyzing the likelihood that enough particles to create the viral load necessary for infection could be transmitted from one person to another.

The likelihood of transmission, he said, increases with both proximity and time, and those were simply starting points that were agreed upon to help scientists get that point across to the general public.

More:'Cautiously optimistic': What the future of COVID-19 could look like for Larimer County

Is COVID-19 more transmissible during some activities than others, such as an indoor exercise class or singing at church?

It’s not the activity itself that makes COVID-19 more transmissible, it’s the frequency of inhaling and exhaling and volume of air exchanged that comes into play.

“If the amount you’re breathing in and out goes up, it’s reasonable that your risk of exposure goes up,” L’Orange said. “So if you’re breathing fast and deep and frequently, it’s probably a higher risk then when you’re breathing normally.”

How often should masks be washed or replaced?

Although N95 and surgical masks were generally designed for a single use in specific occupational settings, they will likely provide protection from virus transmission for much longer periods of time, L’Orange said.

The materials and filtering quality will generally last longer than the fit, he said. So most masks will maintain their effectiveness as long as they can still form a proper seal around the nose and mouth. That’s assuming, of course, that they’re properly stored so the metals and plastics used to form a seal around the nose are not damaged and they don’t develop holes from being stuffed in pockets with keys or other items that might puncture them.

L’Orange said he rotates his N95 masks daily, letting them air out between uses for two or three days to eliminate unpleasant odors — the “ick factor,” he said — and to allow enough time to dry out and decontaminate any viral germs they might have trapped.

Cloth masks should still be washed with soap and hot water and dried or run through the laundry after each day of use.

When can we stop wearing masks indoors around others?

That’s up to the individual and their concern for others and willingness to accept risk, L’Orange said.

He would like to see societal norms over mask-wearing change even if the COVID-19 threat is completely eliminated so that people who must go out while they’re sick — even with minor sniffles or the common cold — wear masks to avoid infecting others. And, he believes, they might be useful even for healthy people to wear on airplanes, buses, trains and in other confined areas where people are packed closely together for long periods of time with limited ventilation to minimize the transmission of other viruses.

“If there’s any positive we can see from any of this, maybe one of them is we treat these more benign common things differently,” he said. “Me wearing a mask in the grocery store when I have the sniffles reduces the risk of me getting somebody else sick. As a good member of society, that seems like a small price to pay to protect those around me.”

Kelly Lyell reports on local sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, follow him on Twitter @KellyLyell and find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KellyLyell.news. If you 're a subscriber, thank you for your support. If not, please consider purchasing a digital subscription today.