Double masking for Covid-19 protection: a trend with a purpose

Double masking for Covid-19 protection: a trend with a purpose

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Public health officials are proposing dual masking as a way to increase protection against the coronavirus and its more frequent, more contagious variants.

“If you have a physical coating with one layer, you put on another layer, it’s only logical that it will probably be more effective, and that’s why you see people wearing a double mask or a version of a N95 does, ” Dr. Anthony Fauci, now chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, told Savannah Guthrie to NBC.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been doubling down for weeks – in fact, Biden was regularly seen wearing a surgical mask under his black dust blanket before being sworn into office.

On the day of the inauguration, the nominated Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, the transport secretary, took a double mask for selfies, and the first poet Amanda Gorman wore a surgical mask under her Prada version.

National youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman arrived at the inauguration with a double mask.

Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch Romney and Marco Rubio were spotted in mid-December on Capitol Hill wearing double masks.

Layer on protection

A single-layer mask is not really effective at blocking aerosols, according to studies, and even home and three-layer masks are only partially protective – somewhere in the range of 50% to 60%.

Surgical masks, also known as medical masks, are made of three layers of non-woven material that are usually made of plastic. The colored top layer of fabric is made of medical grade spunbond polypropylene, which is a resin polymer bound in a web-like structure.

A 2020 study found that surgical masks were about 50% effective at protecting the wearer from others’ aerosols, and between 60% and 70% effective at protecting others.
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But put a surgical mask under a cloth mask and you get ‘more than 91% particle removal efficiency’, said Joseph Allen, an associate professor at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and director of the school’s Healthy Buildings program. , said recent interview.
In mid-December, Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, who is a leading expert in the spread of aerosol viruses, and Dr. Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine at UCSF / San Francisco General Hospital, published a comment. ask for double masking,

“For maximum protection,” Marr and Gandhi suggested that the public “wear a cloth mask tightly on top of a surgical mask, where the surgical mask acts as a filter and the cloth mask provides an additional layer of filter, while the fit is improved. ‘

A second option, according to them, could be to wear a three-layer mask made of a flexible, tightly woven fabric that adheres to the face, with an insert of a non-woven filter with high efficiency ‘, like a vacuum bag.

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The best face masks for protection are, of course, the N95-type respirators, made of fibers woven with an electric charge that can trap stray particles, such as a sock that sticks to a blanket in the dryer. Similar products include the Chinese KN95, the European FFP1 and FFP2 versions, the Australia-New Zealand P2, the Korean 1st Class and the Japanese DS2.
“Consider upgrading from a cloth mask to a surgical mask, or from a surgical mask to an N95 / KN95 / equivalent if available. Better masks can help reduce the risk of more infectious strains,” he said. the former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dr. Tom Friedan tweeted Monday.

But the CDC does not currently recommend N95 masks to the general public, in part because of a shortage of masks for health workers, and also because of concerns that people will tolerate the masks, which could impede breathing.

“I’m worried that if we suggest or require people to wear N95s, they will not always wear them,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the new head of the CDC, to CNN’s Anderson Cooper and chief medical correspondent dr. Sanjay Gupta said in a city. hall Wednesday.

“They are very difficult to inhale if you wear them properly,” Walensky said. “It’s very hard to bear when you wear it for long periods of time.”

Proper wearing and care of your mask

No matter what mask you wear, make sure you do it properly – even when double-masking. No uncovered noses are allowed. Both masks should go over the bridge of the nose under the chin and rinse on the face and rest next to the skin, experts say.

If you choose a cloth mask, you should, according to studies, look at a tight tissue. Use the light test to check the weave: if you can easily see the outline of the different fibers when you hold the mask against the light, it is probably not effective.

Make sure you clean and dispose of your masks properly. Surgical masks are used only once, and if it becomes dirty or breathing becomes difficult, the mask should be carefully discarded and replaced, the FDA said.

The CDC recommends that dirty dust masks be stored in sealed plastic bags until you can wash them.

“Wash wet or dirty masks as soon as possible to prevent mold. Wet masks can be difficult to breathe through and are less effective than dry masks,” says the CDC.

Dry your mask completely in a hot or warm dryer, says the CDC, or by hanging it “in direct sunlight to dry completely. If you can not hang it in direct sunlight, hang it or lay it down” flat and let it dry completely. “

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