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

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Public health officials suggest double masking as a way to increase the level of protection against the coronavirus and its multiple, more contagious variants.

“If you have a physical coating with one layer you put on another, it makes sense that it’s probably more efficient, and that’s the reason you see people doing double masking or doing a version of a N95, “Dr. Anthony Fauci, now chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been doubling for weeks – in fact, Biden was often seen with a surgical mask under his black cloth covering before being sworn in.

On the opening day, candidate for transport secretary Pete Buttigieg and her husband, Chasten Buttigieg, took a double-masking selfie and inaugural poet Amanda Gorman wore a surgical mask underneath her Prada version.

National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman arrived at the inauguration wearing a double mask.

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

Layer on protection

A single-layer mask isn’t really effective at blocking aerosols, studies show, and even homemade two- and three-layer sheet masks are only partially protective – somewhere in the 50% to 60% effective range. %.

Surgical masks, also known as medical grade masks, are made of three layers of non-woven fabric, usually plastic. The colorful top layer of the fabric is made of medical grade spunbonded polypropylene, which is a heat-bonded resin polymer in a weft-like structure.

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

“For maximum protection,” Marr and Gandhi suggested that the public could “wear a fabric mask tightly over the top of a surgical mask where the surgical mask acts as a filter and the fabric mask provides an additional layer of filtration. while improving the fit. “

A second option, they said, could be to wear a three-layer mask made from a flexible, tightly woven fabric that hugs the face, with an insert of “high-efficiency non-woven filter material,” such as ‘a vacuum. bag.

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Of course, the best face coverings for protection are N95-type respirators, made from woven fibers with an electrical charge that can trap stray particles, much like a sock sticking to a blanket in the dryer. Similar products include Chinese KN95, European versions FFP1 and FFP2, Australia-New Zealand P2, Korean 1st class, and Japanese DS2.
“Consider switching from a fabric mask to a surgical mask, or from a surgical mask to an N95 / KN95 / equivalent if available. Tom friedan tweeted on Monday.

But the CDC does not currently recommend N95 masks for the general public, in part due to a shortage of masks for healthcare workers, and also because of fears that people tolerate masks, which may hamper the breathing.

“I’m concerned that if we suggest or require people to wear N95s, they won’t wear them all the time,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the new CDC chief to CNN’s Anderson Cooper and chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, in a town. Wednesday room.

“They are very hard to breathe when you wear them correctly,” Walensky said. “They are very difficult to tolerate when you wear them for long periods of time.”

Wearing and maintaining your mask correctly

Whatever mask you wear, make sure you do it correctly, including when double masking. No open nose is allowed. Both masks should pass over the bridge of the nose, below the chin and line up with the face, resting against the skin, experts say.

When choosing your cloth mask, you should look for a tight weave, according to the studies. Use the light test to check the weave: if you can easily see the outline of the individual fibers when you lift the mask up to the light, this is unlikely to be effective.

And be sure to clean and dispose of your masks properly. Surgical masks are single-use and if they become soiled or if breathing becomes difficult, the mask should be carefully discarded and replaced, the FDA said.

The CDC recommends storing dirty cloth masks in sealed plastic bags until you can wash them.

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

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



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