Compassion with the neck runner. The easy up, easy down, flexible, easy to have your BFF for outdoor exercisers. The flexible face covering that this week has a lot of hate and rounds and other trainers wringing their hands when outlets reported on a Duke University study with headlines like “Neck Gaiters are Worse than Wearing No Mask at All.”
We love our walks. We also love science. That we investigated whether that study really meant that we should throw our hostages and adopt a different kind of mask for exercises. Here is what the experts said.
The study was not designed to test which mask is better
The study, published in Science Advances, looked at what happened to drops that spilled when a subject said the words “stay healthy, people.” Drops were viewed and measured as the speaker wore various types of face masks, from an N95 to a surgical mask, to various types of cloth masks, to a bandana and a neck brace (one of those round pieces of fabric that is like the neck of a turtleneck, minus the rest of the sweater).
The researchers looked for a cheap way to measure how effective face masks are, and tested a setup that, to simplify a bit, involved a box, a light and a camera of a phone.
The setup tests measured the least spew when the person spoke and wore an N95 mask. Three-layer surgical masks also prevent more spitting than most dust masks. But what social media has taken over is that when the test person wore the gaiter, the scientists measured 110 percent of the drops that were measured without a single mask.
Thing is, the study was not intended to draw conclusions about masks; it was to test a setup. “The Duke study was a proof-of-principle study to support an inexpensive, simple method for future studies on mask performance,” said David Nieman, DrPH, professor of biology at Appalachian State University and director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the North Carolina Research Campus, which is a key researcher in the field of exercise and nutritional immunology. “That the results from this study cannot be widely applied to exercise conditions,” he says.
How effective a gaiter is can depend on what it is made of
The researchers suspect that the gaiter broke the respiratory droplets into smaller particles, which is why they measured so many of them. And smaller particles can generally travel longer distances. “This is about,” says Kirsten Hokeness, PhD, research immunity and professor and chair of the department of science and technology at Bryant University. “However, not all walkers are made with the same material. The gaiter in this study was described as a ‘fleece’ gaiter made of polyester spandex material. This type of material is intended for breathability and is porous. “That makes sense,” she says, adding that particles came through. “Some grids are made of laminated materials and can fit a little swinging around the mouth and nose. “Before deciding whether gaiters are effective, it would be prudent to see if other types of gaiters that have a more layered construction would perform better and more closely in line with what was seen with the masks,” she says.
The other question that the smaller particles raise is whether smaller droplets transmit the virus more often – and the answer at the moment is another (we know – frustrating) “we do not know yet.”
How effective a mask is can depend on who is wearing it
“You can not draw conclusions about this if you think that with each mask there are variations in fit, personal size, speed, individual physiology and other differences,” says Stefan Flores, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “For most of the tests, one man wore the masks, and this man may have had a certain facial structure, or may have spoken a certain way.” In the few masks tested on more than one person, the margin of error is much larger, suggesting that there is a large difference in particle spew, depending on who is behind the mask.
That the neck runner is still completely off the hook, still completely useless – there is no way to know that from the research so far. “A mask is probably better, but to conclude that a gaiter is worse than no mask … is probably wrong,” says Dr. Flores, “and further studies should be done.”
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Remember to use this mantra
Matthew Ferrari, PhD, of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Pennsylvania State University, says it is ‘striking’ how bad neck walkers performed, although “in general we consider gaiters and other single-layer covers / masks less effective. to be as multi-layered coverage. ”
And until more definitive research can be done, he says, “we will stick to the tried and true advice.” That means, in his memorable words, ‘Stay apart. Stay outside. Wear a mask with more toddlers than you can handle. Do something in a pinch. ”
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