HEALTH

Latest CDC Advice Says Fabric Masks Could Protect

You, Too. Here's The Science
HILARY BRUECK, BUSINESS INSIDER
12 NOVEMBER 2020

Wearing a mask is a simple, e ective step we can all take right now to
prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

For many months now, we've been told this is largely because wearing face
masks helps people keep their germs to themselves, and avoid spreading
the respiratory disease to new hosts.

But in new guidance posted to its website on Tuesday, the US Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) went a step further, in suggesting
that wearing a mask "can also reduce wearers' exposure to infectious
droplets through ltration."
In other words, the CDC now says wearing a mask isn't just about keeping
sick people's germs away from healthy folks, it may also directly help
protect each and every mask-wearer, by preventing them from picking up a
new infection, too.

The agency even said that the combination of source control (from sick
people) and "personal protection for the mask wearer" from everyone in a
community wearing masks "is likely complementary, and possibly
synergistic."

But health professionals, personal protection experts, and mask

researchers have all stressed for months now that it's not so simple, and
that the bene ts of mask-wearing are generally greatest when infected
people (including the ones who show no signs of illness) put them on.

The CDC cited studies - with caveats

This is quite a departure from what the CDC suggested in the early days of
the pandemic, when the agency stressed that masks need only be worn by
infected people, and the healthcare workers and others caring for them, in
order to help "keep respiratory droplets contained."

In its new scienti c brief, the CDC cites several recent studies, which all
suggest that where more masks are worn, coronavirus infection risks are
reduced.

But the agency also cautions that these studies are all based on
observations made outside the laboratory, and often done retroactively. As
such, it's impossible to really know how much of the bene ts of mask
wearing come from blocking virus transmission at the source, and how
much of the protection comes from shielding new people from getting hit.

It may be true that heavy-duty respirators keep people healthy, but

experts are not sure this benefit applies to cloth masks
There is better evidence that surgical masks (with their electrostatically
charged bres built to trap incoming dirt and viruses) and more heavy-duty
full-seal face mask models (like N95s) can both prevent infectious
particles from entering a person's breathing space.

Epidemiologist Saskia Popescu, a leading infection prevention and control

expert, said on Twitter Wednesday morning that while it's true fabric
masks can o er "some variable protection" to the person who's wearing
them, there might be another big reason why the CDC is stressing these
yet-untested bene ts.

"The bigger issue is that the CDC has to reiterate this to get people to wear
a mask," Popescu said in her tweet. "Meaning that we've had to move
beyond source control, but now personal gain to get [people] to mask up."

Virologist Angela Rasmussen from Columbia University agreed.

"This is notable for what it says about our national character,"

she tweeted, adding "at the end of the day, I hope this encourages people
to wear masks. I just wish we didn't have to encourage people to care for
their communities by appealing to individual interests."

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

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