There are two purposes of masks: protect the wearer from infection AND/OR protect others from wearer's potential transmission. For medical workers, both are important. For regular people in most settings, it's about the latter. Cotton mask will do that; an N95 with valve WON'T.
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If you have extra N95s, please donate them to health workers. They are around people with high viral loads plus do high-risk procedures like intubations which generate aerosols. If you have one with a valve, don't wear it around people. (Maybe ok for taking care of sick person.)
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Medical workers need a great fit, the right mask, proper sanitization etc. because they are trying to PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM BEING INFECTED. AS THEY SHOULD. Ordinary people: we are trying to cut down asymptomatic transmission. A cotton mask, changed often, is awesome for that.
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Will a cotton/surgical/N95 mask protect one from getting infected? Maybe. N95>surgical mask and it does depend on all the stuff you hear: fit, filtering, etc. Taking care of someone sick, sure, properly-worn N95 if you have one, or surgical or cotton mask. But don't count on it.
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Fine, though everything you hear about the right fit being very important is true for protecting oneself from being infected even though it matters fairly little for transmitting to others—a point people keep missing. Their best bet is staying distant.https://twitter.com/ibrake4ants/status/1251176250682609665 …
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See the picture here? That N95 mask with VALVE has NO OUT FILTER ON ONE'S EXHALE. It doesn't protect other people from one's own potential transmission. If you're high-risk and have a leftover N95 with valve, you can wear a cotton or surgical mask over it.https://twitter.com/chagmed/status/1243611303681327108 …
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Folks, okay. Getting lots of questions. Working now on an article explaining all this (with co-authors including medical experts
). Will update here as well.https://twitter.com/tomgara/status/1251181090477391873 …Show this thread -
For people interested in the science of masks to protect everyone, here’s a detailed article laying it all out. (That’s a preprint, it’s under review).https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1249805628240953346 …
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Oh, good, the NYT article on masks has been corrected, though they don't note that there has been a correction. Still I'm glad it's corrected!pic.twitter.com/scr7K1TleW
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This article is so irresponsible, leading with advice on how to fit and wear N95 masks -- and wrong at that? Health pros know which type of mask to wear, when and how. It should *lead* with info on the types of cloth face coverings. And emphasize that N95s are reserved for hcw’s.
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No, some people have perfectly legitimate reasons for using N95s. They have a few used ones left from fires. They are high risk themselves. Etc.
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