Re:Prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2
by jcoq on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @03:34PM
(#24064646)
This study talks about 12-16 layer cotton masks as being the most effective. They say this offhand, as if that's a thing. However, it's very difficult to find anything with more than 3 layers. None of the citations to that claim give any hints about how to find 12-16 layer cotton masks (in fact, one of the citations to that claim is a paper that couldn't determine the efficacy of one mask-type over another).
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Re:Prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2
by DeRock on Wednesday August 05, 2020 @03:44PM
(#24064765)
I think you interpreted this wrong. N95 were associated with higher reduction in transmission than others (eg. the 12-16 layer cotton masks you mention).
Re:Prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2
by jcoq on Monday August 10, 2020 @09:35PM
(#24116328)
Yes, that's true, but the 12-16 layer masks were ostensibly superior to single layer masks. The authors seem to treat "12-16 layer" masks as somewhat equivalent to surgical masks throughout the article, which might answer my original question.
"For the general public, evidence shows that physical distancing of more than 1 m is highly effective and that face masks are associated with protection, even in non-health-care settings, with either disposable surgical masks or reusable 12–16-layer cotton ones, although much of this evidence was on mask use within households and among contacts of cases."
In another part, they compare 12-16 layer/surgical masks to single-layered masks, ranking the single-layered as less effective.