SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) - These days almost everyone wears a face covering when they're out of the house, and with the more contagious UK variant of COVID-19 making its way across the U.S., some are now wearing two masks.
"There's nothing wrong with wearing two masks. I often wear two masks. Can we make a general recommendation that doesn't have a scientific basis yet? No." said Dr. Anthony Fauci.
He says while there's no harm in double mask-wearing, but at this point, the CDC is not recommending it because they're still studying whether science and data support recommending it.
Right now the CDC's main recommendation is that your mask has two or more layers of washable, breathable fabric, completely cover your nose and mouth, and choose masks that fit snugly against the sides of your face without gaps.
UC San Francisco Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Peter Chin Hong agrees the focus should be on wearing one high-quality mask, and in fact, he says current data suggests a good quality single mask does protect from all the virus variants. But he does say the decision really relies on the environment you're going to be in."
"If you are a utility worker who spends a lot of time indoors in hard to ventilate areas, it may be worthwhile to get an n95 mask because you are in an indoor area so it depends on context. If you are in Golden Gate Park, and no one is around, it doesn't make sense to double mask," Dr. Peter Chin Hong said.
Again, the CDC is reviewing its face-covering guidelines and will decide if they need to be changed to either recommend two masks or be more specific about the single mask everyone should be wearing.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/2YHAzrN
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