tv ABC7 News Getting Answers ABC February 1, 2021 3:00pm-3:30pm PST
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from one generation to the next and from seed to slice. ♪ ahhh. ahhh. ahhh. ah. ♪ >> announcer: building a better bay area for a safe and secure future. this is abc 7 news. hi, there. i'm kristen sze. welcome to our daily program called "getting answers." we're asking experts your questions every day at 3:00 to get answers in realtime. today we learn the beloved singer tony bennett has alzheimer's. we'll talk about his neurologist to see how he is doing, and what this means for awareness of the disease. but first with the more contagious variants spreading in the u.s., more and more public experts say we need to up our mask game. in fact, democratetr to presiden
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today urging him to use his powers to mike higher filtration maskav important conversation are dr. don milton, a leading expert on airborne infection transmission with the university of maryland and m. cappen paceman, who invented a device to help masks fit better. if you have questions please asking them on our facebook live stream and we'll try to get you answers. welcome, both of you. >> thank you very much. >> hi, good evening. >> dr. milton, i'm starting with you. the raging debate right now is with evidence suggesting the variants spread faster and easier, european countries are moving to make n 95 masks a requirement. do you think we need to level up in terms of the masks that we wear in the u.s.? >> well, yes, it would be good to get better masks. of course, we still have people who don't want to wear masks or wear them under their nose. so wearing the mask you have
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well first is the number one. and then let's get to better masks. >> all right. so let's talk about that. what are better masks? i know there is a difference between filtration and fit. spo let's talk about both aspects and why both are so important. >> well, filtration is does a patricle get through the filter. and fit is around the filter. to get a good filter means that there is a little more air resistance and that means it tends to go around it. so that's why, like, an n 957 respirateser in the hospital has to be cinched down tight on your face so the air isn't leaking around it. >> absolutely. now in terms of fit being important, all i have is this surgical mask which fits me well
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because of the shape of my face. but i notice when my daughter wears this, she has a tiny this is where catherine comes in. you're both engineers from the bay area and you've come together to design a better device. kind of really wanting to help the mask fit better. explain to us what it's called and how it works. >> that's right. my sister sabrina and i are cofounders of a company called fix the mask. we make what we call the essential mask brats brace designed to do what you are saying, sale off the leaks around the side of the surgical mask. i'm going to demo so you can see what i mean. >> let's see it. >> dr. milton actually bought one, i know, he is going to watch you demo that. >> i put on the surgical mask like normal. you can see some gaps under my eyes, and around sides here. but the -- this is where the essential mask brace comes in. you place it over your head.
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make sure the chip strap goeps over your chin. and then the head strap goes over as well. and so what this goes is it creates a good seal around the outside of the mask. but on the inside of the sacroiliac mask. so no air is getting in through the nose or through the sides or through the bottom. >> does that only work with surgical masks or do you recommend it with cloth masks too. >> that's a great question.sa a breathability of the material and the high quality of the filt are. when you use a cloth mask it makes it more difficult to breathe which decades the quality of the mask if you are not using any sort of fitting media. that said, if you are just using a cloth mask in conjunction with a srl mask we definitely don't recommend that with the essential mask brace because it's less breathable. >> dr. milton, you go ahead and jump in. because a lot of people have questions. it's like, i see people wearing the n 95 plus cloth or two
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cloths or cloth on surgical. if you could walk us through based on studies and the data, what is really truly most effective? and walk us through the different situations and scenarios, maybe outdoors versus indoors. >> yeah, so, you know, a lot of people are talking about doubling up masks. and from my point of view if the first layer mask you have is a decent filter, like this one here is one of the brands you can look at catherine's website and she lists filter, how well a bunch of different brands filter. and this is one of the ones that filters pretty well. and if you have that then the main thing you need to do is to have it fit tight. and there is a lot of different ways you can do that. people have shown if you take a nylon stocking and pull it over it it will pull it down against your face. and if you have a good cloth mask that can cinch it down against your face, that's a good
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reason to have a double mask. or you can use a brace, like the ee elastic band that she has developed. and she has a version you can plak yourself and cut out. the pattern is on her website. and so if you have some way to make it not leak, that's the key thing. if the first layer you have isn't such a good filter then maybe the second layer can help with the filtration too. but i would recommend the getting the good filter and then getting it to fit down tight. that's really the key thing. and, you know, you can go then to the next level of actually getting a respirateser, but they're a little more expensive. and the elastomerics will become available but right now they are more expensive and hard to get. >> a year into it and supply is still an issue.
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you do have an essential mask brace that is catherine and her sister invented. is it comfortable? because i'm seeing some questions on them? what is the material? is it soft? is it comfortable? >> yeah, i mean, it's reasonably comfortable. i actually prefer a respirator keeping the mask away from my face. there is one paced on a c-pap mask, really quite comfortable. and that is easier to wear. but, you know, you spend $90 on it if you want one. >> yeah, i mean, and catherine, i know that you really studied as an engineer the part around the nose. there are hacks you can do with hacks around the nose part that accounts make it better. can you show us the nose part you took into your design.
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>> the hardest about getting any mask to fit well in our experience is that nose bridge to cheek area. anyone with glasses will tell you what a pain in the butt that can be. what sabrina invented are the nose cushions, these flexible silicone bristols that bend to suit your a face. big nose, little nose, high cheeks, the bristles make sure you get that fit. >> my daughter has to change that because she always has a big gap there and i keep pressing down the wires to make it fit. but these aren't the most pliable. >> if you are asking where to see it it's at fix the mask.com. and there is a free testimony polite. anyone can follow the testimony polite, get the rubber and make it. >> my sister and i are engineers, we are makers first and foremost. we have a free testimony polite on the website you can download.
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if you have a rubber sheet we encourage to you cut it out. there is tons of hacks to make sure it feels better. if you don't use a brace, you can twist the loops backwards or something. tons of great hacks, out there make sure you get a mask that fits. >> don't away, catherine and dr. milton, because we want to talk more about different ideas after the break. if you want to
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right there. kamgo coming back in 12 seconds. >> we're back with dr. milton with and catherine paceman. talking about masking and what we need to protect ourselves given we have the variants out there that are more transmissible. spo a lot of people are wondering, you know, now that we have things opening up again, right, back in the purple tier, the lockdown is over. dr. milton, how is it too
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close if you will to other people? explain based on what you know about microdroplets and how it spreads? and i see people in groceries stores we're supposed to stay six feet apart but we don't always in tight aisles. >> yeah, with masking and distance, these are the layered interventions. they are working together. by having a mask on, if it's tight-fitting. you're inhaling less of the fine patricles of the floating around you. and if you are infected you're putting out less and there is less in the air to begin with. and by standing farther you're letting is get diluted in the room air and reducing exposure. and all these things add up to being what we need to try to stay healthy and not catch the virus. >> i see. yeah, with we do need multiple layers of protection.
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what about is that letter today? i mentioned the sanders, shiv and ro khanna letter to president biden. saying one year in we need to production and supply of n 95s using the defense production act. maybe have them at usps where people can pick them up for free. what do you think about that? >> i think that's great. that's what some european countries are doing. i understand the state of michigan is also distributing good mask respirators to people. so we need to do this more broadly. the -- the tight-fitting face masks don't necessarily have to just these disposable n 95s we're familiar with. there is tremendous capacity in this country to build and to make elastomeric masks masks mam
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last longer and are more comfortable. >> speaking of comfort, catherine i'm getting questions about the essential mask brace. basically people want to know how long can you wear it and have it still be comfortable? and also do you have a version fitting behind the ears? or tell me about the design. >> so with respect to how long you can wear it while still comfortable, a lot of the people who bought the essential mask brace through the story are front line workers. >> show it to us again if you can talk while showing it, i think that would be great. >> this is the essential mask brace. it goes over the outside of your surgical mask to create a tight seal. and a lot of the people using it are front line workers and find they are wearing it for 8-109-hour shifts without discomfort and the other question about options for ear loops. we don't. the ear loop masks don't give you a high quality fit. n 95 respirators if you reply for oh sha approval there is never an ear-loop design passing
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the standard to my knowledge. dr. milton, anything i'm missing to your knowledge. >> yeah, i don't know what the -- the envo mask has an ear loop option. but i don't know that that's part of the niosh certified respirator kit. because you pull it up this way and pull it down this. around your neck and over your head. and that's what gets it really up tight against your face. >> alex wants to know do knees guards at checkout counters do anything to keep anyone safe? who wants to take that. >> they probably help some. but, you know, shields they stop boluses coming at you. but there are he haddies getting around it to you.
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they are a little bit of help but not the answer. >> the way i've seen this represented in a couple of papers i skimmed. if you think of the air flowing through the room as like a wave, what you can have happen is the wave crashes over the side of the plexiglas and you can have the current sitting on the other side. there might be some protection, as dr. milton says, from drop lets, from aerosol transmission i'm more cautious. >> think about somebody blowing a stream ch cigarette smoke at the thing. it's going to waft around it. >> ishtd have taken more physics but that still makes perfect sense the way you described it. theo we have about a minute left. i'll ask you real quickly, what with would you wear in each of the situations? what would you think is ideal, outdoors, catherine? >> i wear my essential mask brace everywhere i go. >> with a surgical. >> with a surgical maverick, yep. high-quality surgical mask. >> well, in our county right now you are required to wear masks outside. so i wear something.
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if there is nobody around, i'm walking by myself and there is nobody -- thattic even see around me. i'm not worried about a tight-fitting mask. but once i'm near other people, where either usually one of the braces or actually a respirator. >> okay. and it doesn't change whether you're in the grocery store, indoor space or perhaps even. >> well i'm indoor spaces, i'm wearing either something that's going to give me a high protection factor. and i've gone into the lab with a -- one ever these masks and the brace. and i've been able to pass the test for respirator fit test with it. >> all right. and rkn 95s as good as n 95s if they're not knockoffs? >> i can jump? here. my sister and i have that same test dr. milton is talking about which is a porta count pro. it measuring how clean the air
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inside the mask is compared to the outside. dr. milton mentioned a couple of times you need to make sure it fits to the face. front line working. >> i've never passed with a kn 95. it doesn't meet the standard are for for respirator fit. even the tkf 4 you see the air is only two to four times cleaner. the standard is the 100 times cleaner inside the mask than outside the maverick. >> great to know. thank you so much. catherine paceman with fix the mask, a san francisco engineer, and also dr. don milton of the university of maryland, a leading expert on airborne infection transmission. thank you for your time today. really appreciate the conversation. >> thank you. >> thank you. all right. coming up next, folks, tony bennett's family is going public with news the singer i
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going public with the news that he is living with alzheimer's. bennett's family revealed the diagnosis in an aarp magazine article and joining us to talk about it is is dr. deb by the neurologist who diagnosed bennett in 2016. thank you for joining us. i know you are very busy, dr. bebo deb by. i really appreciate it. >> thank you for having me on the show, kristen. >> first, we have to start by asking, how is tony doing? he is so beloved, especially here in san francisco where he has left his heart, of course. people want to know how he is doing and where is he at right now. >> he is actually doing very well, still singing twice a week tleert. going through the entire american song book. much beloved by his wife susan as by all the rest of us. both tony and susan asked me to send to san francisco and particularly to charlotte schultz who they say is ms. san francisco, all their love. >> and all that love right back
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at him and his whole it must be difficult to go public especially knowing people are going to keep asking about the progress, and you know, what is he losing at this point, what does he still retain and what we can expect in the next few years? can you kind of walk us through that? >> right. so all of us have our own unique individual brains. and we bring that brain to an illness like alzheimer's disease. spoopt kidney disease where we have the same kidneys we have very, very different brains. tony bennett has a spectacular brain. it's hard wired for performance, hard wired for energy and for music, and for singing, and for painting and obviously a great amount of generosity and heroism because he chooses to share his story with his fans and with the public to the give people a single message, which is that
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there is hope when you have alzheimer's disease, because you can still l, li wh greatli ofa e ul thgs, stillan t you, as his neurologist, as someone who made the diagnosis four years ago, even though tony bennett hats alzheimer's. if he were performing today he would bring joy to so many people. and you wouldn't know if you listen to him sing that he had >> oh, yes. >> however he has problems in certain areas. he may not remember day to day what the day is. he may not remember certain aspects and details. but he still has a very versatile and wonderful brain. >> and was it not remembering some of the details what prompted the diagnosis. >> yeah, so susan -- tony mentioned to susan that he was having trouble remembering
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names. susan brought him to see me about -- they both came to see me about four years ago. and that's when we did a series of tests, which -- by which we discovered that he did have alzheimer's. and that it was affecting certain types of memory. but he did have other areas of his brain that were very functional and that's one of the things that i think it's important to get out is that alzheimer's is a spectrum disorder. that there are many people on the alzheimer's spectrum who continue to do well and some people who have fairly severe disease that progresses rapidly. but tony is someone who had the illness that's going to progress more slowly than in other people and where he can continue to retain a very good quality of life. >> talk about the timing of the disclosure. why now, after four years? >> i think that for a bunch of reasons, because i think tony has continued to perform. he did -- you know, he performed, injury up until march of last year with lady gaga in
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las vegas. he -- as "the new york times" put it, he doesn't just bridge the generation gap. he demolishes. and i think now in the last year that he has not performed the pandemic. for someone who is a performer who gets kicks from performing, feeding off the audience feedback. it's become a difficult time for him appear. and he released a album with lady gaga. and the idea of what is he performing next, we don't know in uncertain times, he decided to ---en a as you'll see in "good morning america"is still performing, still singing. >> it's just amazing. we are so looking forward to hearing the songs he recorded with lady gaga. to do it at his age with alzheimer's. it's just -- truly he is you a neek. but i want to ask you. one mentioned the love of singing.
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i can only imagine if he pours his soul into that and still singing, is that actually good for his memory and helping him fight alzheimer's so to speak? >> alzheimer's is where the brain has different pathology that gets laid down in different parts of the brain. if you embrace something, whether you like to dance, sing, read, do math, you like to play with airplanes and tinker with w railroad, you know, toy trains, whatever it is that you enjoy doing, if you can engage in it fully and really pour a lot of your brain's resources into it, it can't up era but help your brain thrive and help the sininn appears survive and help given the pathology of allison heim zbleers we're about out of time. i'm leaving it with you and the bennett family talking about this publicly, what do you hope
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ton's example and story will do in terms of alzheimer's awareness. >> that's such a good question. i think there is there is so much stigma around alzheimer's. when people get a diagnosis they fold into themselves and people embarrassed and feel humilitied and want to lied. what tony has done is revealed himself as having alzheimer's and still being able to be a great performer. and still being able to live a vibrant life. i think this is something that people should embrace, and that i hope that families can take away and patients as well who may have a diagnosis, that you can have the disease and still live a -- your best possi alive. r. deb by, the neurologist nose
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isolation even for tony bennett. >> i'm sorry i'm going back on air. but we thank you. >> that's going to do it for new np thank you for joining us on this show "getting answers." mi tonight, as we comen states right now. a major storm slamming the northeast. still churning at this hour. whiteout conditions reported. 17 states under winter weather alerts from georgia all the way up through new york and up through maine. the nor'easter unleashing the biggest snow store to at this time had region in years. more than a foot of snow in new york city. dangerous driving conditions. cars and trucks skidding off highways.refiigacin t rescue victims in the water. major cities suspending mass transit. the storm forcing cov vaccinati. hundreds rushing to boston's fenway park to get their shots
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