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Category: Medical News
Army researchers say this is the best material for a homemade face mask they’ve found so far
The best easy-to-find material for a homemade face covering to protect against coronavirus transmission is four-ply microfiber cloth, according to Army researchers at the service’s Combat Capabilities Development Command.
Researchers with the command’s Chemical Biological Center said in a Wednesday news release that the four-ply microfiber cloth, which can be found in the cleaning section of most big box stores, filters out more than 75 percent of particles.
An N-95 mask, the protective covering in short supply among hospital workers who need it most, is able to filter out 90 percent of particles, they said.
Layering a polyester bandanna can filter out about 40 percent of suspended particles, the release added. Officials from the command did not immediately respond to a request for comment asking how well the neck gaiters perform, which are commonly worn by soldiers.
The team made the determinations after testing more than 50 materials — with more tests ongoing — by spraying a salt aerosol at a piece of the chosen material.
The salt particles used to test the filter were 0.2-0.3 microns in size. Coronavirus is roughly 0.1 microns in size, but the virus floats around in droplets expelled by infected persons that are anywhere from 0.2 to a several microns in size or larger.
Hearing loss prevention focus of Better Hearing and Speech Month
May is Better Hearing and Speech Month, which aims to raise awareness concerning disorders of speech, hearing, voice, and language. The Army Hearing Program is committed to hearing loss prevention and reducing noise hazards.
Roughly 40 million adults in the United States report difficulty hearing, and the most common cause of hearing loss is noise exposure.
“Hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears) are the top two service-connected injuries in the military,” said Capt. Theresa Galan, the Army hearing program manager at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. “Noise-induced hearing loss is painless, progressive, permanent and nearly always preventable.”
The Army Hearing Program works to prevent hearing loss through unit and individual education, hearing protection devices, hearing monitoring services, and range and hazardous noise area inspections.
For second week, about 1,000 new coronavirus cases among troops
Nearly 3,000 service members have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the Defense Department’s latest data, with about 2,300 cases still active and almost 1,000 new cases added in each of the last two weeks.
With 2,986 cases among troops, the military’s infection rate now stands at 1,421-per-million, or 0.14 percent. That’s compared to the overall U.S. rate of 1,932-per-million, or 0.2 percent.
The Navy saw its cases rise above 1,000 this week, hitting 1,017 on Friday. Much of that surge has come from 100-percent testing aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, which has been pierside in Guam for nearly two weeks following an outbreak.
Of 4,800 sailors on board, about 4,500 had been tested as of Friday morning. Of 660 positive tests, more than half have come from asymptomatic sailors, senior Pentagon leadership confirmed this week.
Iranian ships harassed American vessels in Persian Gulf, military says
The U.S. military on Wednesday denounced what it described as provocative maneuvers by Iranian vessels near American naval and Coast Guard ships in the Persian Gulf.
In a statement, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said 11 small vessels belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy conducted “dangerous and harassing approaches” toward a fleet of American ships, including the USS Lewis B. Puller, an expeditionary mobile base vehicle, and the USS Paul Hamilton, a destroyer.
The American ships were carrying out operations with Army Apache helicopters in the northern Gulf, the statement said.
The Iranian vessels “repeatedly crossed the bows and sterns of the U.S. vessels at extremely close range and high speeds, including multiple crossings of the Puller with a 50 yard closest point of approach and within 10 yards” of a Coast Guard ship’s bow, according to the military.