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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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Speaker 1: Lauren Bogabam here and by now, in this coronavirus pandemic,

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Speaker 1: we should all be able to agree about the importance

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Speaker 1: of wearing masks. But way back at the beginning a

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Speaker 1: year or so ago, the word wasn't so clear, as

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Speaker 1: researchers and scientists wrestled with new data surrounding this novel virus.

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Speaker 1: What the experts were saying about masks may have been

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Speaker 1: a little confusing, especially as they were trying to reserve

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Speaker 1: the limited supply of medical grade masks for medical professionals

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Speaker 1: on the front lines until more could be made. But

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Speaker 1: it's now more than a hundred million people have been

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Speaker 1: stricken by COVID nineteen, the disease that springs from this

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Speaker 1: coronavirus infection. More than two point two million have died

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Speaker 1: the world. Scientists now have enough data, enough proof to

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Speaker 1: definitively state masks work. We spoke with Mary Beth Sexton,

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Speaker 1: a professor in the Emory University School of Medicines Division

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Speaker 1: of Infectious Disease. She said, as frustrating as it is

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Speaker 1: when you're in the community and you're getting information and

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Speaker 1: it changes. This has actually been a great example of

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Speaker 1: how science is supposed to work. You go at the

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Speaker 1: best knowledge you have at the time, and as soon

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Speaker 1: as you know something different, you let people know, you

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Speaker 1: explain it, you change. And that's what has happened here. Now,

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Speaker 1: as the virus mutates into different variants, masks are as

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Speaker 1: critical as ever, and some people are suggesting doubling up.

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Speaker 1: That's right, wearing two masks to keep everyone safe and

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Speaker 1: get this pandemic under control. Dr Anthony Fauci, the longtime

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Speaker 1: director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,

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Speaker 1: said in a White House news briefing on February three,

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Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with people wearing two masks. I often

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Speaker 1: myself wear two masks. Can we make a general recommendation

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Speaker 1: that has scientific basis yet? No. But when the science

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Speaker 1: comes along and tells us that it's better or not,

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Speaker 1: then you will see a recommendation being made by the

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Speaker 1: CDC or centers for disease control and prevention. But let's

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Speaker 1: back up a step. Why damasks work in the first place.

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Speaker 1: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus two or stars COVE

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Speaker 1: two travels through the air, we need masks as one

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Speaker 1: measure among many to keep it from spreading. Here are

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Speaker 1: three examples of how mask usage has helped curb the

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Speaker 1: viruses transmission in real life. Service members who wore masks

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Speaker 1: on the U S S. Theodore Roosevelt, which experienced a

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Speaker 1: COVID outbreak on board in March, were some less likely

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Speaker 1: to be infected than those who did not. A study

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Speaker 1: of a d and thirty one clients in the Missouri

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Speaker 1: Health Salon showed that none were infected by two stylists

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Speaker 1: who had COVID nineteen. Both workers wore masks, as did

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Speaker 1: every one of the clients, and during a surge in

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Speaker 1: Arizona in the summer of a statewide mask wearing mandate,

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Speaker 1: along with limits on large gatherings and more attention to

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Speaker 1: social distancing, helped to stabilize transmission rates, which then decreased

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Speaker 1: by some sevent as the summer war on. According to

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Speaker 1: the CDC, control of the virus through masking works in

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Speaker 1: two fairly obvious ways. First, a mask stops those who

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Speaker 1: have the virus from spreading it. The second, masks keep

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Speaker 1: those without the virus from being infected. As the CDC

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Speaker 1: website puts, it. The relationship between source control and personal

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Speaker 1: protection is likely complementary and possibly synergistic, so that individual

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Speaker 1: benefit increases with increasing community mask use. Physically speaking, though,

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Speaker 1: how does a mask stop though wily and extremely tiny virus.

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Speaker 1: It's all about getting in the way, the Sexton explained.

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Speaker 1: Even though the virus itself is incredibly small, the virus

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Speaker 1: doesn't travel by itself. If you are infected with COVID

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Speaker 1: and you put the virus out into the environment, it's

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Speaker 1: contained within these respiratory particles, and there's a mix of

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Speaker 1: what people call droplets and aerosols. Aerosols are a little smaller,

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Speaker 1: but even an aerosol is so much bigger than the

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Speaker 1: virus itself. I think of those particles that show up

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Speaker 1: in slow mo pictures of a call for a sneeze,

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Speaker 1: or even just talking, or the way that you can

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Speaker 1: see your breath in the air on a cold day.

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Speaker 1: If you were infected with COVID, every one of those

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Speaker 1: particles contain millions of COVID viruses. A mask helps trap

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Speaker 1: those particles coming and going. A January article in the

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Speaker 1: Medical Journals Cell explained filtering is not seeving out things

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Speaker 1: that are too large to pass through holes in the material. Rather,

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Speaker 1: air must curve as it flows around into dual, tightly

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Speaker 1: packed fibers of the material, like a race car swerving

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Speaker 1: around cones of an obstacle course. As the air curves,

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Speaker 1: the aerosols that it carries can't make the sharp bends

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Speaker 1: and therefore slams into the fibers or they become too

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Speaker 1: close to the fibers and stick to them. The type

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Speaker 1: of mask, of course, is important, as is how it's worn.

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Speaker 1: The CDC recommends a mask that has at least two

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Speaker 1: layers of washable, breathable material, that covers both your nose

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Speaker 1: and your mouth fully keep that nose in there, and

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Speaker 1: that fits snugly around your face without any gaps. A

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Speaker 1: Sexton said, there's been a lot of conversation about should

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Speaker 1: people wear two masks, should people wear medical grade masks,

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Speaker 1: what should people do? And I think that what we

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Speaker 1: can get lost in some of that discussion is that

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Speaker 1: the most important thing is that everyone wears a mask.

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Speaker 1: Some people have already been doubling up in what Fauci

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Speaker 1: calls a common sense approach, but new research from the

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Speaker 1: CDC published in the agency's February one Morbidity and Mortality

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Speaker 1: Weekly report says that either wearing two masks or wearing

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Speaker 1: a properly fitted single mask closely on your face does

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Speaker 1: prevent the spread of COVID nineteen more than wearing just

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Speaker 1: one loosely fitted mask. Sexton explained, if having two masks

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Speaker 1: on is actually going to make you have your hands

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Speaker 1: on your face more, or if it's uncomfortable and you

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Speaker 1: keep moving it and putting it back on, or if

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Speaker 1: it's falling off your ear or hanging off your ear

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Speaker 1: on a loop, all of those things are counterproductive. If

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Speaker 1: that's happening, you should just focus on one that's of

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Speaker 1: really good quality and fits you well. If you can

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Speaker 1: do two in such a way that actually improves the

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Speaker 1: quality or improves the fit, that may make sense. You

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Speaker 1: should also wash or sanitize your hands before putting on

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Speaker 1: your mask or before doing anything else that requires you

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Speaker 1: to touch your mask or your face. Don't mess with

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Speaker 1: the mask while it's on. Take it off carefully, handling

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Speaker 1: only the ear loops or ties, and fold the outside

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Speaker 1: edges together that keeps any virus is trapped. Wash it regularly,

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Speaker 1: especially if it's wet when you take it off. Also,

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Speaker 1: wet masks are less effective when they're on, so if

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Speaker 1: yours gets damp, change it out for a spare. And finally,

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Speaker 1: if you're fiddling with it too much while wearing it,

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Speaker 1: it probably doesn't fit you right, try another one and

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Speaker 1: remember that as a February second, masks are required on

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Speaker 1: any form of public transportation and in transportation hubs like

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Speaker 1: train and bus stations. Today's episode was written by John

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Speaker 1: Donovan and produced by Tyler Clay. For more on this

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Speaker 1: and lots of other topics, visit how Stuff works dot com.

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Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio or more podcasts

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