Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Bogabam here and by now, in this coronavirus pandemic,
Speaker 1: we should all be able to agree about the importance
Speaker 1: of wearing masks. But way back at the beginning a
Speaker 1: year or so ago, the word wasn't so clear, as
Speaker 1: researchers and scientists wrestled with new data surrounding this novel virus.
Speaker 1: What the experts were saying about masks may have been
Speaker 1: a little confusing, especially as they were trying to reserve
Speaker 1: the limited supply of medical grade masks for medical professionals
Speaker 1: on the front lines until more could be made. But
Speaker 1: it's now more than a hundred million people have been
Speaker 1: stricken by COVID nineteen, the disease that springs from this
Speaker 1: coronavirus infection. More than two point two million have died
Speaker 1: the world. Scientists now have enough data, enough proof to
Speaker 1: definitively state masks work. We spoke with Mary Beth Sexton,
Speaker 1: a professor in the Emory University School of Medicines Division
Speaker 1: of Infectious Disease. She said, as frustrating as it is
Speaker 1: when you're in the community and you're getting information and
Speaker 1: it changes. This has actually been a great example of
Speaker 1: how science is supposed to work. You go at the
Speaker 1: best knowledge you have at the time, and as soon
Speaker 1: as you know something different, you let people know, you
Speaker 1: explain it, you change. And that's what has happened here. Now,
Speaker 1: as the virus mutates into different variants, masks are as
Speaker 1: critical as ever, and some people are suggesting doubling up.
Speaker 1: That's right, wearing two masks to keep everyone safe and
Speaker 1: get this pandemic under control. Dr Anthony Fauci, the longtime
Speaker 1: director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
Speaker 1: said in a White House news briefing on February three,
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with people wearing two masks. I often
Speaker 1: myself wear two masks. Can we make a general recommendation
Speaker 1: that has scientific basis yet? No. But when the science
Speaker 1: comes along and tells us that it's better or not,
Speaker 1: then you will see a recommendation being made by the
Speaker 1: CDC or centers for disease control and prevention. But let's
Speaker 1: back up a step. Why damasks work in the first place.
Speaker 1: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus two or stars COVE
Speaker 1: two travels through the air, we need masks as one
Speaker 1: measure among many to keep it from spreading. Here are
Speaker 1: three examples of how mask usage has helped curb the
Speaker 1: viruses transmission in real life. Service members who wore masks
Speaker 1: on the U S S. Theodore Roosevelt, which experienced a
Speaker 1: COVID outbreak on board in March, were some less likely
Speaker 1: to be infected than those who did not. A study
Speaker 1: of a d and thirty one clients in the Missouri
Speaker 1: Health Salon showed that none were infected by two stylists
Speaker 1: who had COVID nineteen. Both workers wore masks, as did
Speaker 1: every one of the clients, and during a surge in
Speaker 1: Arizona in the summer of a statewide mask wearing mandate,
Speaker 1: along with limits on large gatherings and more attention to
Speaker 1: social distancing, helped to stabilize transmission rates, which then decreased
Speaker 1: by some sevent as the summer war on. According to
Speaker 1: the CDC, control of the virus through masking works in
Speaker 1: two fairly obvious ways. First, a mask stops those who
Speaker 1: have the virus from spreading it. The second, masks keep
Speaker 1: those without the virus from being infected. As the CDC
Speaker 1: website puts, it. The relationship between source control and personal
Speaker 1: protection is likely complementary and possibly synergistic, so that individual
Speaker 1: benefit increases with increasing community mask use. Physically speaking, though,
Speaker 1: how does a mask stop though wily and extremely tiny virus.
Speaker 1: It's all about getting in the way, the Sexton explained.
Speaker 1: Even though the virus itself is incredibly small, the virus
Speaker 1: doesn't travel by itself. If you are infected with COVID
Speaker 1: and you put the virus out into the environment, it's
Speaker 1: contained within these respiratory particles, and there's a mix of
Speaker 1: what people call droplets and aerosols. Aerosols are a little smaller,
Speaker 1: but even an aerosol is so much bigger than the
Speaker 1: virus itself. I think of those particles that show up
Speaker 1: in slow mo pictures of a call for a sneeze,
Speaker 1: or even just talking, or the way that you can
Speaker 1: see your breath in the air on a cold day.
Speaker 1: If you were infected with COVID, every one of those
Speaker 1: particles contain millions of COVID viruses. A mask helps trap
Speaker 1: those particles coming and going. A January article in the
Speaker 1: Medical Journals Cell explained filtering is not seeving out things
Speaker 1: that are too large to pass through holes in the material. Rather,
Speaker 1: air must curve as it flows around into dual, tightly
Speaker 1: packed fibers of the material, like a race car swerving
Speaker 1: around cones of an obstacle course. As the air curves,
Speaker 1: the aerosols that it carries can't make the sharp bends
Speaker 1: and therefore slams into the fibers or they become too
Speaker 1: close to the fibers and stick to them. The type
Speaker 1: of mask, of course, is important, as is how it's worn.
Speaker 1: The CDC recommends a mask that has at least two
Speaker 1: layers of washable, breathable material, that covers both your nose
Speaker 1: and your mouth fully keep that nose in there, and
Speaker 1: that fits snugly around your face without any gaps. A
Speaker 1: Sexton said, there's been a lot of conversation about should
Speaker 1: people wear two masks, should people wear medical grade masks,
Speaker 1: what should people do? And I think that what we
Speaker 1: can get lost in some of that discussion is that
Speaker 1: the most important thing is that everyone wears a mask.
Speaker 1: Some people have already been doubling up in what Fauci
Speaker 1: calls a common sense approach, but new research from the
Speaker 1: CDC published in the agency's February one Morbidity and Mortality
Speaker 1: Weekly report says that either wearing two masks or wearing
Speaker 1: a properly fitted single mask closely on your face does
Speaker 1: prevent the spread of COVID nineteen more than wearing just
Speaker 1: one loosely fitted mask. Sexton explained, if having two masks
Speaker 1: on is actually going to make you have your hands
Speaker 1: on your face more, or if it's uncomfortable and you
Speaker 1: keep moving it and putting it back on, or if
Speaker 1: it's falling off your ear or hanging off your ear
Speaker 1: on a loop, all of those things are counterproductive. If
Speaker 1: that's happening, you should just focus on one that's of
Speaker 1: really good quality and fits you well. If you can
Speaker 1: do two in such a way that actually improves the
Speaker 1: quality or improves the fit, that may make sense. You
Speaker 1: should also wash or sanitize your hands before putting on
Speaker 1: your mask or before doing anything else that requires you
Speaker 1: to touch your mask or your face. Don't mess with
Speaker 1: the mask while it's on. Take it off carefully, handling
Speaker 1: only the ear loops or ties, and fold the outside
Speaker 1: edges together that keeps any virus is trapped. Wash it regularly,
Speaker 1: especially if it's wet when you take it off. Also,
Speaker 1: wet masks are less effective when they're on, so if
Speaker 1: yours gets damp, change it out for a spare. And finally,
Speaker 1: if you're fiddling with it too much while wearing it,
Speaker 1: it probably doesn't fit you right, try another one and
Speaker 1: remember that as a February second, masks are required on
Speaker 1: any form of public transportation and in transportation hubs like
Speaker 1: train and bus stations. Today's episode was written by John
Speaker 1: Donovan and produced by Tyler Clay. For more on this
Speaker 1: and lots of other topics, visit how Stuff works dot com.
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