With more contagious variants of the coronavirus spreading and vaccination still months away for many Americans, experts agree that it’s time to think more about how their masks are protecting you.
That could mean double masking or upgrading to an N95 respirator, the gold standard used by healthcare professionals, in particularly risky situations, experts told BuzzFeed News. And while the best way to mask depends on individual circumstances, it is clear that a layer of fragile and poorly adjusted fabric does not cut it.
“It’s just a subtle conversation like, ‘Is this a little better or a little better?'” Said Alex Huffman, an aerosol scientist at the University of Denver, Colorado. “It is really a question of quality on one side and adjustment on the other, and [how] they come together. “
How should you make a double mask? When? Is a cloth mask still effective?
“The philosophy that a mask is good, two masks are better is probably true,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “I would prefer someone to wear a mask correctly than two masks inappropriately, but if you can use two masks correctly, that’s great.”
BuzzFeed News talked to eight doctors and scientists about how to better protect ourselves and others now. Here’s their advice.
Whatever you use, make sure it fits your face perfectly.
Whether you’re bending over, wearing an N95, or just wearing your favorite fabric mask, the most important thing to do is make sure you’re wearing it correctly. Masks should cover the nose and mouth and be as tight as possible on the face, according to the CDC.
“It must fit tightly around the mask, so there is no gap where air – and viruses – can leak easily,” wrote Linsey Marr, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, in a statement provided to BuzzFeed News. “Having a gap is like having a hole in the mask.”
In an article published earlier this month, Marr, a specialist in aerial virus transmission, recommended using a cloth mask over a surgical mask as a way to reduce leaks. Some engineers have also developed devices that help seal masks on the user’s face.
“It forces air to pass through the material,” rather than seeping through the sides or around the nose, Huffman said.
Before leaving, make sure you can feel the air coming out of the sides of the mask or around the nose and, if applicable, try to adjust the nose thread and straps to make it as tight as possible.
Who should bend?
Dr. Monica Gandhi, who co-authored the article with Marr, recommends that people at greater risk of serious illnesses, work indoors with others or live in areas where COVID-19 transmission is high, use a cloth mask on top of a surgical one or insert a filter between two layers of tissue.
The idea was hailed as common sense by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist. The CDC, however, did not make a recommendation on double masking and did not respond to questions from BuzzFeed News.
Gandhi, an infectious disease doctor and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said people should not wear a double mask if they are just going for a walk in an area where they can still keep their distance from others. Double masking is more important indoors and in places where distance is difficult, she added.
Dr. George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology at UCSF, said he prefers to wear the cloth mask or any flatter layer underneath, saying he has found it easier to create a seal on his face in this way. (This reporter tried both ways in person and didn’t find much difference.) “It works for the user,” said Rutherford.
While some experts say it is probably okay to wear two cloth masks – as long as you can breathe easily and adjust them close to your face – they said it is probably not worth using three or more masks at once.
“It just drowns out your voice and doesn’t add any extra effectiveness,” said Gandhi.
Carolyn Cole / Getty Images
Houston Fire captain Daniel Soto wears an N95 face mask whenever he answers a call during a pandemic.
I have N95s. Where should I use them?
While there is still an inadequate supply of N95s, the gold standard for protection, substitutes like KN95s are more available to the general public than they have been for months. If you have access to them, experts recommend using them indoors where you are mixing with strangers, such as in the supermarket and on public transport.
“The length of the wave was greater and this means that the possibility that the person in line next to you will have an infection is greater,” said Bob Wachter, head of the UCSF Department of Medicine.
Some experts are advocating the universal use of N95, and some European countries have begun to demand medical-grade facial coverage in supermarkets and public transport, although the CDC still says that N95s and surgical masks should be reserved for healthcare professionals.
Even though the count of daily cases decreases in relation to the peaks observed during the holiday season, the spread of more contagious variants makes all activities outside the home more risky than ever. “The hierarchy here is surgical is better than tissue, and N95 is better than surgical,” said Wachter.
This is not to say that you should be concerned about going to the store or other indoor spaces with strangers if you and others are still wearing cloth masks, according to Benjamin.
“Even if you wear a mask of sufficiently thick fabric properly, your risk should be reduced, and at the end of the day, all of this exercise and exercise is aimed at reducing the risk,” said Benjamin. “For the average person who does most of the common things we do, I still believe that the proper use of a good fabric mask that is more than two layers thick should be sufficient.”
Will my cloth mask protect me from new variants of the coronavirus?
Experts said the variants do not have superpowers to penetrate the masks better than older versions of the virus. But when they pass, the person is more likely to get sick.
“It is not so much that the mask is less effective against blocking particles, it is that these variants of the virus can transmit a little more efficiently,” said Huffman. “The mask is doing its job and is still doing it in exactly the same way as before.”
There is still a lot that we don’t know about the variants or what makes them more contagious. They may be better able to enter cells or produce higher viral loads, which means that when an infected person speaks or coughs, they are expelling more viral particles.
“What they have is the ability to exploit any kind of lapse in the way you wear these masks, so if you have a fragile mask or if you have a mask that you don’t wear very well … you’ll be less forgiving when you’re dealing with a new variant, ”said Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety.
Ira L. Black – Corbis / Getty Images
A mannequin in a store window uses a trendy scarf as a face mask.
If you’re still wearing a bandana or single-layer fabric mask, it’s time to upgrade.
As the most contagious versions of the virus are spreading, experts agree that it is worthwhile for people to update their masks.
“People shouldn’t wear bandana masks,” said Benjamin. “Certainly this coverage will reduce your risk to some extent, but it is really insufficient.”
Rosie Redfield, a microbiologist and professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia, recommends that people check the masks for leaks and determine how they filter the air that passes through them.
“When you breathe out, do you feel hot air flowing through your cheeks and eyes? If you are outside, do your glasses fog up? Is it harder to breathe if you use the sides of your hands to press the edges of the mask firmly against your face? Yes to these questions means that your mask is leaking, ”said Redfield in an email to BuzzFeed News.
Tightening the strips or changing the shape of the nasal floss can help, but you can just try a new mask, she said. To test how well his mask filters the air, Redfield said to see how difficult it is to blow air through it when it’s pressed against your mouth.
“If it is almost as easy as without the mask, then the mask is not a good filter,” she said. “If it is very difficult to blow air through the mask, then the mask can be a very tight filter, making it more likely that the air will be forced around it instead of through it.”
Experts recommend obtaining multiple washable cloth masks in several layers with a filter or filter bag. Gandhi said you can also sew a vacuum filter or bag between two layers of fabric.
“If you are using a single layer, especially if you are not vaccinated, I will personally make the double mask or update the quality of the mask, whichever is more convenient,” said Wachter.
Until more people are vaccinated, keep distancing yourself and wearing masks, and avoid mixing indoors.
Obviously, masks are just a way to reduce the risk of transmitting and spreading COVID-19, and everyone should continue to distance themselves, avoiding crowds, limiting time inside the house with people outside their home and staying at home as much as possible.
This message has been emphasized by public health officials since the start of the pandemic and, although it has sparked fights in some states, President Joe Biden said he is working to depoliticize security measures like wearing masks.
More than a year after the coronavirus outbreak began, Adalja said that everyone should be “much more meticulous” about the care they take outside the home, and when you are eligible to get the vaccine, go get it.
“Whatever it is, try to do a little better job both in masking and in all the different prevention steps that you and we have been doing to try to get everyone past the finish line where we have enough people vaccinated to dedicate less pay attention to those things, ”said Huffman.