NATIONWIDE – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released new guidelines on wearing face masks during the coronavirus pandemic, advising people not to wear masks with valves or valves.
What you need to know
- CDC advises against using face masks with valves or valves
- Experts say that valves / valves allow virus to escape from mask
- Officials say tight-woven canvas masks are ideal
The CDC still encourages people to wear masks to limit the spread of COVID-19, but health officials say they should not have valves or vents that could allow the virus to escape the mask.
On its website, the Public Health Bureau stated, “Masks with unidirectional valves or valves can expel exhaled air through holes in the material.”
“It has to be really tight-woven fabric. Leaks make ideal face masks because they can be cleaned. And the woven material is really tight. So again, that thing works well,” said public health expert Gavin MacGregor-Skinner at Penn State University. .
MacGregor-Skinner said that materials that stretch do not make a good mask because it “allows respiratory drops to escape.”
Public health officials say top-of-the-line N-95 surgical masks should not be worn by members of the public and should be reserved for frontline health care workers.
Along with other preventative measures, such as social distance and frequent hand washing, the CDC says that cloth face masks help reduce the spread of COVID-19, especially in public spaces.
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