CDC updates guidance on double-masking, criteria for quarantining after receiving vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is changing its guidance when it comes to protecting yourself from COVID-19. Some of it is in response to the new variants of the coronavirus circulating.

New study findings from the CDC show a surgical or paper mask combined with a cloth mask can block more than 90% of cough particles.

The Minnesota Department of Health also commented on these additions, adding more suggestions.

"If you do this double-masking approach, the second mask should push the inner mask against your face," said Kris Ehresmann, the MDH Infectious Diseases director. "Another option is choosing a mask with a nose wire, a metal strip along the tip of the mask that can be adjusted to help fit snug on the bridge of your nose. Those wires can prevent air from leaking out of the top of the mask."

According to the CDC’s website, vaccinated persons with an exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are not required to quarantine if they meet all of the following criteria:

• Are fully vaccinated (more than two weeks following receipt of the second dose in a two-dose series or the receipt of one dose of a single-dose vaccine),
• Are within three months following receipt of the last dose in the series,
• Have remained asymptomatic since the current COVID-19 exposure.

Health officials said persons who do not meet all three of the above criteria should continue to follow current quarantine guidance after exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.

"If you’re living in a long-term care setting or if you’re a patient in a hospital, it doesn’t apply to you either, so there’s a lot of caveats," said Dr. Peter Bournestein at St. Paul Infectious Disease Associates, Ltd. "You can always quarantine, there’s no reason you can’t quarantine."