Michael Osterholm, who was a member of the Biden Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, gave a second opinion after Dr. Anthony Fauci said last week that putting on two face masks “likely” gives more protection than wearing just one mask.
"When we talk about double masking, remember what we're really talking about is just trying to prevent the virus from being excreted by me into the air or me inhaling the virus from someone else in the air, and it's both a function of face fit and face filtration," Osterholm said during an interview Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press.
The director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota linked face masks to swim goggles, noting that leaks usually happen "at the fit" rather than at the lenses.
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"So what we're concerned about is that many of these face cloth coverings do have already compromised fit or filtration capacity. If you add on another mask, you may actually make it tougher for the air to move through the two-cloth area, and then at that point, it causes more air to actually leak around the sides, which actually enhances your ability to get infected," Osterholm said.
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"I'm not saying that some couldn't be used in a better way, but at the same time, there are many that may actually, you may do more harm," Osterholm added. "Let me just say right now, one thing that's really to me very important is we see up to 25% of people who wear it under their nose. You know, that's like fixing 3 of the 5 screen doors in your submarine. You know, what's going on there? We've got to get people to start using these right, that would help right there tremendously."
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people should wear masks "in public settings, at events and gatherings, and anywhere they will be around other people." The agency also advises that the masks have two or more layers of breathable fabric, but it has not sent out guidance on wearing two masks.
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Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Biden's chief medical adviser, spoke on Monday about how masks are a physical covering that helps to inhibit respiratory droplets from spreading. “So, if you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on — it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective, and that’s the reason why you see people either double-masking or doing a version of an N95," Fauci said on the Today show.
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The CDC does not recommend that the general public wear N95 respirators to preserve themselves from respiratory diseases, including the coronavirus, noting that they and surgical masks are intended for healthcare workers.
