Revised CDC guidelines says face masks protect the wearers too

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

Published Nov 18, 2020

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CAPE TOWN - Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently revised their guidelines saying that mask wearers protect themselves too with the proper use of face masks in public.

The CDC has recently released a statement saying that face masks do protect wearers in addition to reduce emissions of viral droplets with recent research providing evidence that exposure to infectious droplets are reduced through the filtration of face masks.

The CDC guidelines continue to focus on masks reducing the further spread of the virus by containing the emissions of infectious droplets "which is especially relevant for asymptomatic or presymptomatic infected wearers who feel well and may be unaware of their infectiousness to others, and who are estimated to account for more than 50% of transmissions" it said in the scientific brief, “But now we’re saying here’s another reason” to wear them, said Dr John Brooks, chief medical officer for the CDC’s

COVID-19

emergency response.

According to the organisation, there are studies demonstrating just even cloth mask materials can reduce wearers exposure to the virus although the filtration effectiveness may vary across certain face masks but "multiple layers of cloth with higher thread counts have demonstrated superior performance compared to single layers of cloth with lower thread counts, in some cases filtering nearly 50% of fine particles" said CDC in the report.

The organisation now says that the entire community can benefit from wearing face masks as increasing numbers of those wearing face masks consistently and correctly means individual prevention increases too.

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