The Center's for Disease Control has released a new study after conducting an experiment in a lab on double-masked mannequins or dummies.
"New data released from CDC today underscored the importance of wearing a mask correctly and making sure it fits closely and snuggly over your nose and mouth. In this new study researchers used experiments in the laboratory, not the real world, to access different strategies to improve the different fits of masks impacts a mask's ability to block aerosolized particles emitted during a simulated cough as well as to reduce exposure to aerosol particles emitted during simulating breathing. The size of the aerosol particles in the experiment were designed to mimic the respiratory droplet particles most important for person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky released in a video statement.
"I want to be clear that these new scientific data released today do not change the specific recommendations on who should wear a mask and when they should wear one. But they do provide new information on why wearing a well fitting mask is important," she added.
In lab tests with dummies, exposure to potentially infectious aerosols decreased by about 95% when they both wore tightly fitted masks, a new @CDCMMWR finds. #WearAMask that fits tightly to your face to stop the spread of #COVID19. More: https://t.co/gi3OLBCnWi. pic.twitter.com/Jt55LUECER
— CDC (@CDCgov) February 10, 2021
Walensky continued to explain the study was not done on Wuhan coronavirus virus patients, but instead in a lab setting. She also stressed wearing a "well fitted" and tight mask is the most effective.
"Specifically the experiments compared the performance of no mask, a single cloth face mask and a single medical procedure mask with two approaches to improve the mask fit of the surgical mask, wearing a cloth mask over the procedure mask and knotting and tucking the ear loops of the medical procedure mask," she continued. "In the study, wearing any type of mask performed significantly better than not wearing a mask and well fitting masks provided the greatest performance at both blocking emitted aerosols and exposure of aerosols to the receiver."
NEW: The CDC's new recommendations on how to improve mask fit
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) February 10, 2021
"This includes wearing a mask with a moldable nose wire, knotting the ear loops on your mask, or wearing a cloth mask over a disposal mask" pic.twitter.com/KHshdVWqFg
The full and updated guidance is available here.