The CDC Has Weighed In On Double-Masking
Wearing a mask has become a weird, but common fact of life. Honestly, I've got 3 masks on me right now - my regular, my back-up (so I don't have to walk back to the car when I go to the store and forget my regular), and another one just in case one of my kids forgets theirs.
That being said, I have chuckled to myself while seeing people wear them in their car - and when I see someone wearing 2 masks at the same time! As it turns out, the joke's on me in both cases. Some folks have underlying conditions or extenuating circumstances that make keeping the mask on in the vehicle a necessity. As for the double-mask thing - the Centers for Disease Control says they might be on to something.
According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, the CDC has been studying the effectiveness of twin masks and they're pretty impressed with the findings. During an experiment that simulated the blocking power of the masks, they found that while a single mask blocked around 40% of coronavirus-sized particles - doubling up masks literally doubles the protection and blocks around 80% of these particles!
The next phase of the experiment featured 2 "people" (artificial heads that were engineered to "breathe" and "sneeze"), they found that if both of them were double masked - the effectiveness jumped to an amazing 95%! Which begs the question: What if we triple or even quadruple-mask it?
LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions
While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.