That single-ply cloth mask you’re wearing to the store might not cut it against the new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus emerging in Massachusetts.
“We know that cloth masks don’t work as well as surgical masks,” said Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health. “I’m not saying jump to an N95 respirator for the general public, but if you can get your hands on surgical masks, the sturdier the better and multiple layers are preferred.”
More contagious coronavirus variants coupled with winter surges in infections have already prompted some European countries to tell their citizens to ditch their cloth face coverings for medical-grade masks.
France is now recommending that people wear surgical masks in public. Germany is requiring medical-grade masks on public transportation, in workplaces and in shops, while the German state of Bavaria is mandating N95s or their equivalents in stores and on public transit. Austria is reportedly expected to strengthen its masking rules on Monday.
Cloth masks were encouraged in the early days of the pandemic when supplies of medical-grade masks were scarce.
But as medical experts look to combat new, more contagious strains of the virus — including the variant first reported in the United Kingdom that’s now been identified in at least two cases in Massachusetts and is likely to become the dominant U.S. strain in March — they’re warning cloth masks may not be good enough.
Ellerin said new mutations of the coronavirus “allow it to hijack the cell more efficiently and enter the cell more efficiently and therefore be more contagious.” And a more contagious variant can also mean people are carrying around greater amounts of the virus, Ellerin said, meaning “you have to be concerned about the type of personal protective equipment you wear.”
Dr. Atul Gawande, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital surgeon and Harvard Medical School professor who serves as one of President Biden’s COVID-19 advisers, recently tweeted, “Wearing medical-grade masks will be important to slow the spread of the B.1.1.7 strain” — the name of the U.K. variant.
“We have consistent evidence that single-layer cloth masks are not as effective as surgical masks, and N95 or KN95 masks are even better,” he continued.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital Dr. Abraar Karan is calling on the Biden administration to leverage federal powers to get higher-quality masks into the hands and onto the faces of essential workers and everyday citizens. After Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to help maximize the medical supply chain — including for masks — Karan tweeted, “Hopefully this gets utilized to bring better personal protection to the general public.”
Experts say it’s not just the type of mask that matters, but also the fit.
“A two-ply or three-ply cloth mask does pretty well if it fits snugly around the mouth and nose,” Boston University infectious diseases specialist Dr. Davidson Hamer said. “If two people are wearing cloth masks like that, and one of them is infected, the likelihood of there being an exchange is very low, though it’s not zero.”
That risk gets even lower the higher the filtration of the mask gets.
“Is it really necessary in most situations? Probably not,” Hamer said. “If we just have reasonably good two- or three-ply cloth masks and surgical masks, and if people wear them right in public, that should be sufficient, even with B.1.1.7 rearing its ugly head in Massachusetts.”
