Last Updated on January 5, 2022
An NBC correspondent told Today Show viewers and hosts to double mask their kids before sending them to school if they can’t find the more heavy duty N95 mask in children’s sizes, so that “not a lot of air” gets through to their faces.
The instructions came from NBC journalist Vicky Nguyen, not a medical doctor, who appeared on the Today Show for a segment on renewed mask use and mandates as NBC and other corporate media outlets use their coverage to ramp up fears of COVID and its omicron variant, a mild version of the virus that persists in heavily vaccinated populations.
Despite massive amounts of medical research indicating mask mandates have likely been counter productive and developmentally damaging for children, Nguyen recommended that all Americans, especially children, wear as tight a fitting as possible or double up if heavy duty N and KN 95 masks are not available.
“They go all the way over your head,” Nguyen said of the heavy duty masks. “Not the most comfortable but very very snug. Not a lot of air is getting in between the sides of my cheeks or the tops of my cheeks.”
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When asked to elaborate on masking guidelines for children, Nguyen doubled down on her tight-fitting mask advice, telling parents to use children’s sized N95 masks or to double up with a surgical and cloth mask if children’s sizes aren’t available, saying that she even outfits her own kids in two masks, making sure they stay on their faces all day long.
“Okay so we talked to [NBC’s] Dr. John Torres about this because I actually just sent my kids out the door this morning, minutes ago, with two masks,” Nguyen said.
“[Dr. Torres] says obviously the KN95 and N95 are the most effective but It can be really hard to find them in small kids sizes and also to keep them on your kids all day – they’re not the most comfortable.”
“So the second best option is to make sure you have a kids’ size surgical mask,” she continued, before telling parents to place the surgical mask on their child’s face before adding an additional layer of a cloth mask.
“So the surgical mask goes on first and then the cloth mask,” Nguyen said, going on to further convolute her instructions saying that if a second mask isn’t available, just one is fine too.
“If you can’t do that, surgical mask alone,” Nguyen said. “Dr. Torres says least best, but better than nothing, the two-layer cotton mask that fits your child. The best mask, certainly, is the one that your child will wear and keep on the whole day when they’re in the classroom.”
NBC seemed to think so much of the air restricting advice that they posted an article to their website following Nguyen’s Today Show appearance, containing a video recording of the segment and boasting that “experts” had weighed in on the matter.
