Evidence is accumulating that COVID is commonly transmitted through small aerosolised droplets emitted during regular speaking and breathing—a problem compounded by the enhanced contagiousness of variants such as 501Y.V2, the strain which dominates in South Africa.
Masks have become ubiquitous in the pandemic-struck world, and even fashionable, with many different types available. However, their effectiveness varies considerably from top-of-the-range N95 masks to a pulled-up shirt which offers very little protection.
“How well a mask works depends on two things: filtration and fit,” said Professor Linsey Marr, who studies airborne disease transmission at Virginia Tech .
“Good filtration removes as many particles as possible, and a good fit means that there are no leaks around the sides of your mask, where air—and viruses—can leak through,” she said, noting that even a small gap could result in a 50% reduction in effectiveness.
We do not recommend wearing more than two masks. Adding more layers proves diminishing returns and can compromise breathability. It must remain easy to breathe through the layers; otherwise, air is more likely to leak in around the sides of the mask.
Wearing a cloth mask over a surgical mask, or ‘double masking’ does improve effectiveness as it serves to tighten the surgical mask’s fit. Air escapes around the corners and edges of the mask, as anyone who has worn glasses and had them fog up in the cold can attest to.
While N95 masks are the best available, there are also equivalents such as KN95 or FFP2.
“They all provide a similar level of filtration, meaning protection of particles going in and out,” said Ranu Dhillon, a global health physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dhillon is frustrated at the lack of transparency and education for the public about masks.
Health care workers, for example, get their masks tested for fit, something which could be also done by members of the public.
Donald Milton, a professor of environmental health at the University of Maryland, said that the key to understanding the COVID airborne transmission threat is to treat it like cigarette smoke. Ventilation helps, but if you have someone between you and an exhaust vent, then masks will definitely help.
Before the pandemic, Milton and Dhillon courted controversy by demonstrating that most viral transmission was in the form of small droplets emitted when speaking or breathing, and the contribution to transmission by coughing and sneezing was smaller than previously thought. The two researchers are hopeful that their findings will find their way into official COVID policy, and future research may even see masks becoming a common sight during peak flu seasons.
Source: Japan Times
