Coronavirus: two masks are better than one, US researchers say
- The CDC reported the findings on Wednesday, but health officials stopped short of recommending that everyone double up
- A lab experiment showed that 80 per cent of coronavirus-sized particles were blocked when one person was wearing a cloth mask on top of a surgical mask
US government researchers found that wearing two masks are better than one in slowing coronavirus spread, but health officials stopped short of recommending that everyone double up.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday reported the results of a lab experiment that spaced two artificial heads six feet (two metres) from each other and checked to see how many coronavirus-sized particles spewed by one were inhaled by the other.
The researchers found that wearing one mask – surgical or cloth – blocked around 40 per cent of the particles coming toward the head that was breathing in. When a cloth mask was worn on top of a surgical mask, about 80 per cent were blocked.
When both the exhaling and inhaling heads were double-masked, more than 95 per cent of the particles were blocked, said the CDC’s Dr John Brooks.
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“The first challenge is to get as many as people as possible masking. And then for those that do mask, to help them get the best benefit out of that mask,” Brooks said.
