That's even the case for smaller aerosols – droplets that are less than five microns large, but nonetheless help the virus spread. She explains it elegantly: "Every virus-laden particle retained in a mask is not available to hang in the air as an aerosol or fall to a surface to be later picked up by touch." The overall effect is a safer world for everyone. Rather, they stop enough of them to make the environment safer for those around you. In a recent review, and a plain-language summary, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Clase notes that masks don't stop every virus-laden droplet you encounter. Today, there's an abundance of evidence demonstrating how masks work – even homemade cloth masks. "Instead of inspiring public confidence, which transparency should do, that had a negative unintended consequence of making people feel that the decision was not as clear cut," she tells Inverse.Īnthony Fauci, the National Director of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has also noted that there were missteps in communicating about masks. Public health officials that were honest about the uncertainty ended up with an unexpected consequence. Then in April, after a viral social media movement took hold abroad and new evidence emerged, the CDC's stance on masks changed.Ĭatherine Clase, an associate professor of medicine at McMaster University, explains that at the outset of the mask debate, there wasn't much research showing whether they worked to control viruses outside of a hospital. When the pandemic began, government officials like the Surgeon General made it clear that masks were to be reserved for healthcare workers – who at the time, were facing disastrous shortages of personal protective equipment. Filippo Bacci/ Getty Images Do coronavirus masks work? Most said that the public seems the most confused about mask effectiveness.
Over1,000 Inverse readers responded to our survey.
The two questions - and their answers below - are two vital subplots in the larger story of this pandemic: Misinformation thrives when the facts aren't clear.Ībout this series - Inverse polled you, our readers, about what you see as the biggest questions regarding Covid-19. That was followed by 26 percent of people, who believed that the asymptomatic spread of the virus was especially perplexing.
Thirty-four percent of Inverse's survey respondents thought the public was still the most confused about mask effectiveness. More than 1,000 people wrote in and two topics rose to the top. Inverse asked readers about which pandemic topics they thought were the most confusing. There's a vaccine race to keep up with, the dynamics of social distancing, and the lingering question: How long will it all last? There's a lot to be confused about when it comes to the Covid-19 pandemic.