Should you double up on your face masks?

Should you double up on your face masks?

Some experts say Canadians might want to consider upgrading their face masks, doubling up mask layers, or wearing one while outdoors as more contagious COVID-19 variants continue to spread.To get more news about medical mask manufacturer, you can visit tnkme.com official website.

Dr. Gerald Evans, chair of Queen's University's infectious diseases division in Kingston, Ont., told CTVNews.ca on Thursday that better quality masks and masking practices may be necessary as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

"There's always been a strong suggestion that a 'better' barrier [regarding] masks is likely to be more efficient at reducing transmission from droplets and short-range aerosols," Evans said in an email."So generally speaking, medical masks are better than non-medical masks, and multiple layers [or] three non-medical masks are better than three-layer non-medical masks," he explained.

With this in mind, Evans said wearing two masks, a medical mask underneath a reusable fabric mask, "might be better than a single mask." However, he noted that "no current evidence supports that variants require 'more' PPE or masking to reduce transmission."

"As long as PPE is used properly and consistently, it will be effective," Evans said.

The Unites States' top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested to NBC on Monday that double masking could increase the level of protection from COVID-19 and its multiple variants."If you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective, and that's the reason why you see people either double masking or doing a version of an N95," Fauci said.

However, Fauci appeared to backtrack on his comments at a town hall appearance on CNN on Wednesday, stressing Americans follow CDC guidance, which does not call for wearing two masks.

Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam suggested in November that Canadians start wearing face coverings that are made of three layers with one being a filter.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), a non-medical mask should be made of at least three layers, two of which should be tightly woven material fabric, such as cotton or linen. The third, middle layer should be a filter-type fabric, such as non-woven polypropylene fabric.

Reusable masks with a non-woven filter layer already built in should be washed daily, and can be washed multiple times. Those with disposable filters should be changed daily or as directed by the manufacturer, according to the updated guidelines.

Dr. Anna Banerji, director of Global and Indigenous Health at the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine, suggested that Canadians may also want to consider wearing face masks while in certain circumstances outdoors to help reduce possible transmission.If you're outside and you’re in a place where you're walking near people then it's a good idea to mask up," Banerji said in a telephone interview.

Regardless of how many layers one's mask has, Banerji says wearing one at all remains critical as variants emerge.

Banerji explained that PHAC's updated guidelines do not mean that fabric masks or two layer masks are no longer effective. She said these masks still work, however, more layers will provide more protection.