28 Jan 2021
Public health officials are suggesting double masking as a way to increase the level of protection from the coronavirus and its multiple, more contagious variants.
"If you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective, and that's the reason why you see people either double masking or doing a version of an N95," Dr. Anthony Fauci, now a chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, told NBC's, Savannah Guthrie.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been doubling up for weeks -- in fact, Biden was often seen with a surgical mask under his go-to black fabric covering before being sworn into office.
On Inauguration Day, transportation secretary nominee Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, took a selfie double masking, and inaugural poet Amanda Gorman wore a surgical mask beneath her Prada version.
Republican US Sens. Mitch Romney and Marco Rubio were seen sporting double masks on Capitol Hill in mid-December.
Republican US Sens. Mitch Romney and Marco Rubio were seen sporting double masks on Capitol Hill in mid-December.
Layer on the protection
A single-layer mask isn't really effective in blocking aerosols, studies show, and even homemade two- and three-ply fabric masks are only partially protective -- somewhere in the 50% to 60% range of effectiveness.
Surgical masks, also called medical-grade masks, are made of three layers of nonwoven fabric typically made from plastic. The colored top layer of fabric is made of medical-grade spun-bond polypropylene, which is a resin polymer heat-bonded into a weblike structure.
A 2020 study found surgical masks were about 50% effective at protecting the wearer from other people's aerosols and between 60% and 70% effective at protecting others.