Anthony Pouch, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is attending a White House briefing in November last year while wearing a mask. Washington = AFP Yonhap News
In the United States, experts recommend that two masks be overlaid to prevent the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19). This is because, in a situation where mutant viruses with higher transmission power than existing viruses are discovered one after another, wearing a double mask can reduce the risk of infection even a little.
According to a foreign press on the 29th (local time), health experts in the US have recently recommended’mask overwriting’. If two masks are overlapped, the protective film is reinforced and the effect of blocking Corona 19 increases. Anthony Pouch, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the highest authority in the United States, appeared on NBC broadcast on the 25th and said, “Adding a mask will enhance the virus blocking effect.” He explained, “If you put on one more layer of protection, it will be more effective (for blocking viruses) from common sense. This is why people wear two masks at a time or change their masks to be similar to N95.” Whenever he went to an official stand, such as a briefing at the White House, he overlaid two masks to attract attention.
Earlier on the 15th, Linji Ma, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech and Professor Monica Gandhi of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), commented, “If you put a cotton mask on top of the surgical mask, you will get maximum protection.” They explained that the inner surgical mask acts as a filter when using two layers, and the cotton mask will serve as an additional filter while helping to fit tightly. Joseph Allan, an associate professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Public Health, also claimed in a British Daily Guardian article that wearing a cotton mask over a surgical mask could block 91% of the droplets.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Booty Gee takes off her two layers of masks to speak at a personnel hearing in Washington on the 21st. Washington = EPA Yonhap News
Of course, the most effective mask for virus protection is the medical N95 mask that blocks 95% of airborne particles. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend the use of this mask to the public. This is because mask shortages can intensify in the medical field if even the general public is looking for high-performance masks in a situation where there is not enough mask inventory. It seems that overwriting is an effective quarantine measure.
Even in politics, the appearance of overlapping two masks is often spotted. President Joe Biden and Vice President Camela Harris overlaid a black cloth mask over a surgical mask at the inauguration ceremony on the 20th. Former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who was appointed Biden’s first transportation minister, Pete Booty, also took a selfie with a partner on the day of the presidential inauguration. Republican members Mitt Romney and senators Marco Rubio were also spotted wearing’double masks’ in the middle of last month.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, CDC issued an order to wear masks on all means of transportation, including aircraft, trains, taxis, ridesharing vehicles and public transportation. This is in accordance with President Biden’s order on the 21st to require all federal agencies to wear masks in transportation. The order will take effect from 11:59 pm on the 1st of the following month. However, it does not apply to vehicles or commercial trucks driven by individuals alone.
Heo Gyeongju reporter [email protected]
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