Experts begin to question the efficacy of cloth masks

 Matt Margolis:

For most of this pandemic, you’ve been told to mask up because masking will protect you and others from getting COVID.

But suddenly the ball game has changed. New studies show that the commonly worn cloth masks aren’t very effective, and experts are saying you need to ditch them.

“We want to make sure that it is not a cloth mask. A cloth mask does not offer protection,” says Asha Shajahan of the Mayo Clinic.

The Mayo Clinic recently conducted a study that found that cloth masks had a negligible impact on COVID transmission in villages in India—about 5%.

...

A Canadian study also challenged the efficacy of cloth masks.  There are apparently sophisticated surgical masks that are more effective but are not commonly available.

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