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NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. health officials are taking a new approach to encouraging Americans to wear masks: They point to recent research that a mask protects the person wearing it.
Previously, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised people to wear masks because of evidence that it prevents people infected with the coronavirus – whether they know it or not – from passing it on to others.
But this week, the CDC released a new science note discuss recent studies showing that a wearer is getting some protection.
The agency’s advice has not changed. He continues to advise Americans to wear masks to prevent the virus from spreading.
“But now we’re saying here’s another reason” for doing it, said Dr. John Brooks, CDC’s chief medical officer of the COVID-19 emergency response.
Agency officials were influenced by a recent study led by Japanese researchers who used mannequin heads and artificial respirators to simulate the spread of coronavirus particles in the air and assess how well the masks block transmission.
This confirmed previous research that masks work best when worn by an infected person who could spread it by coughing, sneezing or talking. The masks block about 60% of the amount of virus that comes out of an infected person, according to the study.
But the researchers also found that there was an advantage when an uninfected person wearing a mask was unlucky enough to be around an infected person who was not wearing a mask. In this scenario, the amount of virus inhaled by the uninfected person decreased from 37% – to 50% – if they wore a mask.
When both people wore masks, the drop in viral particles reaching the second person was the greatest – nearly 70%.
The study did not perfectly mimic most real world situations. For example, the heads were closer than six feet, and the exhaling mannequin’s head was making more of a constant cough than regular breathing.
But Brooks said the value of everyone wearing masks is suggested by several other studies of real-world situations – including one of the clients at a Missouri barber shop, another on a US aircraft carrier. and several others who have followed infections and deaths in places that have adopted mask warrants.
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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science receives support from the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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