Are two masks better than one?

Are two masks better than one?

Some medical leaders have suggested that wearing two masks could provide more protection. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to US president Joe Biden, told the US Today television programme that “if you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on it, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective.To get more news about medical mask manufacturer, you can visit tnkme.com official website.

New research from the CDC supports this. It has reported that transmission can be reduced by up to 96.5% if both an infected person and an uninfected person wear tightly fitted surgical masks or a cloth mask together with a surgical mask.8

But a WHO spokesperson, commenting in the hours before the new CDC guidance emerged, told The BMJ that it was not currently recommending double masking. “Based on the currently available information on the spread of variants of concern, WHO is maintaining its advice on the use of masks. We will continue to review evidence as it becomes available.”

Should the public be wearing masks outdoors?
The UK’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is considering this. In a recent paper that focused on physical distancing and face coverings in light of the UK variant B.1.1.7, SAGE said “using face coverings in a wider range of settings where people could be asymptomatic and may be in close proximity (less than 2 m)” should now be considered.9

The paper said, “Transmission in outdoor settings where people are distanced is likely to still be very low risk. However, it remains the case that if people are in close proximity for extended periods in an outdoor setting, there is a potential risk of transmission from the higher concentrations of respiratory particles near to an infected person. It is possible that this close range risk is greater with the B.1.1.7 variant (low confidence).”

The Department of Health and Social Care for England did not respond when The BMJ asked it whether the UK government was considering recommending masks outdoors.

Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at Norwich Medical School and one of the reviewers for the WHO mask guidance, said the advice may depend on the situation. “If you’re outside in a big queue, and people aren’t socially distancing around you, I would put a mask on. But if I’m just walking on a not overly busy high street [or] going for a walk around a village I wouldn’t wear a mask,” he said.

Hunter added that people should be careful not to get their mask wet, especially if they are then going to go indoors wearing the same mask. He explained, “If that material gets wet, you can’t breathe through the material, and the mask then loses much of its effectiveness. So if it rains and you’ve got a mask on, it becomes pointless because you can’t breathe through it. If it’s cold outside and your breath wets the mask, as it will do, it becomes much less useful.”

WHO has recommended that masks be worn outdoors when there is “known or suspected community or cluster transmission” and when physical distancing cannot be maintained.