About Cloth Masks…

About Cloth Masks…I haven’t written about COVID-19 for a while, but a recent trip to my lung specialist to review a chest CAT scan (good news: it was clear of pneumonia) found her looking a little haggard. She admitted, doctor-to-doctor, that she’d been spending a lot of time caring for Delta variant COVID patients, who have recently filled the wards again and cost her some needed sleep.

With a more contagious and possibly more serious Delta variant out, it’s probably a good idea to review some of the new research that has come out on cloth masks. If you’ve read my work, you probably know the notion that cloth masks are just terrific when it comes to COVID protection, well, it just drives me batty. The idea that a cloth mask your granny made out of yarn will prevent infection as well as an N95 or even a surgical mask is hard to believe (though I’m sure she’s a very nice lady).

Sure, early in the pandemic, logistics issues meant that the public had to rely on cloth masks because of the lack of medical-grade supplies. The government specifically asked us to avoid using N95s so that healthcare workers can have some.

Sounds fair but now, there’s a reasonable supply of the good stuff that’s out there for purchase. Still, I see the majority of folks wearing cloth masks in high-risk settings.

You say you’ve gotten attached to your cloth mask? It even has a moustache painted on it? Great, use it on Halloween. Arguments are now being made that the public should start wearing masks that are more protective. Some countries have even tightened their rules on what masks you can use. For example: In France, homemade masks and store-bought cloth masks are now banned. Austria and Germany require real medical masks in many indoor public spaces. The mayor’s office in London is considering a similar requirement.

Now, I’m not saying there is no protection whatsoever from cloth masks. One study tested different face masks and reported that fabric face masks blocked at least 62.6% of fine particles, whereas surgical masks protected against an average of 78.2% of fine particles. N95 masks, however, blocked 99.6% of fine particles.

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