U.S. CDC recommends wearing N95s for highest protection
The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday raised concerns that cloth masks that popularly replaced medical-grade surgical and N95 masks through the course of the pandemic may not provide enough protection against the coronavirus disease.
“When worn consistently and properly,” the agency wrote on its website, N95 respirators approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health, or NIOSH, “provide the highest level of protection from particles, including the virus that causes Covid19.”
The latest study found that without face coverings, droplets/aerosols were detected up to a maximum of 1.25m during speech and up to 1.37m while coughing.
The study mentioned that in addition, the use of face coverings was highly effective in reducing the count of expelled aerosols also. The coverings made up of cloth reduced maximum axial distances to 0.61m for speech and to 0.67m while coughing respectively. The material that is used to make N95, such as polypropylene fibres, act as both mechanical and electrostatic barriers to shared air.
