CDC: Masks offer wearer protection

November 10, 2020 9:55 pm

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ATLANTA (WLNE)- Masks can provide protection from the coronavirus for a person wearing one, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in new guidance issued today.

While the new guidance says the greatest protection offered by masks is in limiting exposure to “virus-laden droplets” from an infected person to those around them, they “also help reduce inhalation of these droplets by the wearer.”

The brief issued on the CDC website says effectiveness has varied across studies, in “large part due to variation in experimental design and particle sizes analyzed.”

However, studies suggest that multiple layers of cloth at higher thread counts offer more protection than single layers, “in some cases filtering nearly 50% of fine particles less than 1 micron,” according to the statement.

The statement cites several “real-world” studies, including one in which two COVID-19 positive hair stylists interacted with 139 clients over eight days. In subsequent interviews and testing, none of the 67 individuals that responded developed infection. Both clients and the hairdressers were required to wear masks per state mandate, the CDC said.

The CDC says more studies are needed to understand the effectiveness in personal protection, but that the “relationship between source control and personal protection is likely complementary and possibly synergistic,” as “individual benefit increases with increasing community mask use.”