Community Matters--New Masking Guidelines

This is a reminder that starting October 1 the CSPC will be increasing our masking requirements for our in-person events. All volunteers and attendees will be required to wear an N95, KN95, or equivalent mask. We will have some masks at the registration desk for those who don’t have a mask of that type. But since we can’t always know how many will be needed, we ask that you please bring your own mask if possible.

The purpose of increasing these standards is to keep our events as safe as possible. We only have a few policy levers to work with, and we’re trying to invest our volunteers’ time and energy in those that will be most effective at preventing community spread. Our simultaneous move to stop doing vaccination checks at the door will have very little effect on the likelihood of a person with COVID walking in through the door, especially since the vast majority of our membership is already vaccinated and boosted. And since the Omicron variants (which now make up 99.9% of the virus spreading around the U.S.) spread readily among both vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, people with COVID are guaranteed to come to some of our events no matter what our vaccine policy. We still strongly recommend vaccination and booster shots, as doing so greatly improves medical outcomes for the infected person. We also highly recommend self testing before coming out to an event, even if you aren’t symptomatic, to help prevent community spread.

Changing the masking standards at events is our most effective way of mitigating the associated risks. An N95 can give eight times as much protection as a surgical mask, so this is a significant thing we can do to reduce community spread and keep one another safe. As a bonus, having everybody at our events in better masks makes the whole environment safer. When you remove your mask for a drink or a mind-blowing  scene, you can do so with much more confidence that the air around you will be safe.

You’re probably wondering what an “equivalent mask” means. We’re using that language because there are many standards around the world for masks. FFP2 masks from Europe, Korea 1st Class masks, or DS2 masks from Japan will all give roughly similar results for purposes of preventing spread of COVID-19 and other airborne diseases. So will any masks that have the following characteristics:

1.       Materials that have been shown to filter airborne particles at an equivalent rate to an N95 filtration medium.

2.       A close fit around the face (to prevent air flowing around the mask).

3.       Effective filtration in both directions (in other words, no valves that are allowing unfiltered air to flow out).

An EC at an event has the final say over whether a given mask meets these standards, but you can check in with us beforehand if you have any questions. Just email info@thecspc.org.

Looking forward to many more (safer) events, together with you all,

--The CSPC Board