Omicron would swindle or deceive us humans. It’s a cruel wolf in sheep’s clothes. Omicron has been skanking us.
Wear a respirator mask.
Learn how to wear snug-fitting facepiece respirators, then do it! Do not become infected with Omicron.
There are some areas in the world that have almost no pandemic infections. Why? Because of education and adherence by communities to good preventative practices like vaccination, hand hygiene and proper personal protective equipment.
This article is a collection of medical health practitioner experiences with Omicron from the field in Asia, both south and middle, Africa, and South America.
The medical workers in this report face the highest risk but have completely avoided infection. Their advice about hygiene, personal protective equipment and avoiding infection is therefore invaluable. FPM.news went digging for this figurative gold.
by Melissa Hemingway and Micheal John
How can conscientious people fight Omicron and stay safe.
“Fear is normal, panic is abnormal. People need to fear Omicron, but don’t panic, learn more. Get all vaccinations updated and wear at least a respirator mask. Do hand hygiene before and after touching anything. Hand hygiene can be a 20 second wash with soap that suds and water, or an alcohol cleaner, if running water is unavailable,” says Tina, a nurse in Singapore who specializes in PPE management and training.
Video training course: Watch and learn from nurses in Singapore, how to wear and fit test an N-95 mask.
Note: Never touch the front of a used mask.
Video courtesy: The RINJ Foundation
Read if you wish: Wear N95 respirator mask, Omicron is a serious threat
“To deal with this coronavirus variant, learn as much as you can. That’s the best way to reduce fear, by knowing and doing the right protective measures,” nurse Tina recommends.
“Here is what we do at work, at home and when we go out,” explains Karina Angeles from Manila. She is with The Nurses Without Borders.
“That’s eyes, nose and mouth. The absolute best protection is what you see, below, and it is cheap enough for most people to afford. This works 100%. A plain N-95 is about 95% effective at preventing infection. Add eye protection like a face shield or goggles, and 100% protection is possible depending on a proper fit using certified medical personal protective equipment,” says nurse Angeles.
Respirator mask and goggles eye protection is a good option. Respirator, Goggles and Face Shield are also in common use in high risk areas. Non-medical personnel should never be in such areas. But now, with Omicron, any area within 10 meters of another person has risk.
Extremely effective, goggles and a good quality, certified, respirator saves lives by preventing infection.. Duck Bill N-95 mask and inexpensive goggles. Masks are reusable to some extent. Goggles if cared for can last years. Photo Credit: Melissa Hemingway. Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine
Respirator & medical Face Shield combo is superb protection.
Added eye protection and a way to improve reusability of respirators. In study after study it has been shown that among medical workers who wear an N-95 and a face shield or other approved medical devices for eye protection, none have become infected. Join them. Wearing a mask and a face shield to go shopping helps protect your mask and enables greater reusability of the mask. In the Philippines, having a population of over 110 million, people have been wearing masks and shields under stringent mandates for the best part of 2020 and 2021. Today there are maybe 100 new cases per day. What you see in this image is a good approach for keeping the respirator mask in good conditoon to enhance reuse. The plastic shield is cheap and can last for months. That is not true of the masks. A respirator and significant eye protection is good PPE against Omicron which is extremely infectious. Photo Credit: Melissa Hemingway. Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine
“Omicron will infect anyone. The statistical data still indicate that this variant is not a deep lung infection which is why some folks claim it is not as deadly. Omicron will still kill patients as it blocks air passages. Respiratory failure caused by cytokine storm is horrible. Do not become infected with SARS2-Omicron variant,” explains Dr. Buni in Syria who while being a lead surgeon doing procedures to correct abdominal damage caused by COVID-19, is also consulting with the Civil Society Partners against COVID-19 tracking team in Singapore.
“We know from statistics already that Omicron can infect a person no matter how many vaccines or what type they have been jabbed with. That is what cold, hard, statistics are telling us without any kind of ambiguity,” says Kathy Poon, an interning infectious disease researcher with the CSPaC. in Singapore.
PDF on how to wear a great hard-to-find comfortable, filtering facepiece respirator: Wear the Kimberly Clark DuckBill N95
“Only this PPE advice is a surefire way to prevent infection,” says Dr. Nassima al Amouri who has been writing medical directives for organizations helping treat COVID-19 patients in the Middle East.
“Current vaccines are still not delivering to the human immune system the significantly different identifiers of Omicron versus the ancestral, in-the-wild original coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which current vaccines are based upon. Therefore people can still get sick regardless of vaccination history,” said Dr. Nassima al Amouri in a Signal video call.
“Patients will be less sick if vaccinated and become infected with Omicron, so long as there are no underlying comorbid conditions.
“The staggering reality for the entirety of the pandemic since early 2020 is that people would not get sick if they properly protected themselves with a respirator mask plus eye protection. This will also be giving people’s lungs a break from most toxic pollution,” said the doctor.
Numerous options are available in N95 respirator masks. Photo Credit: Melissa Hemingway. Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine
Video: Below is your Free Training Course from the world renown infectious disease prevention experts at the University of Nebraska on how to use an N-95 and how to fit test a snug fighting respirator mask etc. for personal protection, not just protecting the people around you.
Read if you wish: FPMag-respirator_mask_comparisons
Help each child don and doff their respirators. Do not touch the front of the mask. Here, a medical practitioner shows children in a clinic environment how best to wear their N95, making sure the straps are not too tight or too loose and that the children know how to manage the wearing of a respirator. “They are better at wearing an N95 than the civilian adults we teach,” says NP. Photo Credit: Melissa Hemingway. Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine
It is extremely important to prevent infection with Omicron.
“If you are a busy, healthy young person, you may not notice you have symptoms. You may recover without realizing you were infected. If you have any kind of chronic illness, like asthma, diabetes, prediabetes, high blood pressure, HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis, any bacterial infection, your case will be different from a young, healthy adult. If you have any chronic illness, whether you know it or not, you could easily die from an Omicron infection,” explains Michele Francis from the Amazon Basin in Venezuela where she and her teams have kept the pandemic disease under control. “That is why people must protect themselves with proper PPE.”
According to a significant research project led by Dr. Michael Chan at Hong Kong University, Omicron tends to attack the airways of the respiratory system, and less than other variants, it will find its way into the lungs.
“It is important to note that the severity of disease in humans is not determined only by virus replication but also by the host immune response to the infection, which may lead to dysregulation of the innate immune system, i.e.: ‘cytokine storm’,” said Dr. Michael Chan, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, HKUMed.
Some Omicron factors currently believed but still under study:
- Omicron can infect persons who have had previous infections of Delta or Beta or the ancestral origin virus.
- It is highly likely that Omicron can infect a person who has an infection of the Delta variant.
- Massive numbers of people will be infected with the Omicron variant because it is extremely transmissible, with faster spread doubling than anything yet seen.
Wear a respirator mask.