The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may soon recommend that all Americans wear two masks to improve their protection against coronavirus, said Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.
“It makes sense,” said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in a live interview with the Washington Post.
Fauci said he met with colleagues at the CDC on Monday about the possibility – and the agency agreed to conduct a study to determine the effectiveness of wearing two masks.
“The reason they are not recommending it now is a scientific organization, the CDC,” Fauci said. “They make recommendations based on data and science, so they’re going to look at the specific issue.”
Fauci said he encourages people to double masks because it ‘can not hurt’.
“The reason a lot of people use double-masking and that you’ve probably seen me wear a double-mask is that you can do a common sense extrapolation,” he said.
‘If you put two on … [and] you are looking for the improvement of the physical barrier, it is logical that it can certainly not hurt and may help. ”
Fauci has previously called on people to start double masking, but there are concerns that the use could do more harm if someone is not worn properly.
Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert who was an adviser to President Biden’s transition team, said problems could occur with masks that have an “already weakened fit or filtration ability” that allows breathing droplets to escape from the holes.
‘If you add another mask, it can make the air harder to move through the two-cloth area, and then at that point it can cause more air to leak around the edges, increasing your ability to become contaminated. “He told anchor Chuck Todd on Sunday to NBC.