As Omicron Surge Slows, More Questions About Safety And Masks Emerge

The Omicron variant brought U.S. COVID-19 case counts to over 1 million a day at its peak, and now, more questions are being raised about just how effective masking is when it comes to preventing the spread of the virus, and which kinds are actually the best to use.

Now, according to a recent graphic from the Wall Street Journal, it’s easier than ever to find out just which masks will offer the best protection. The graphic compares N95 masks, surgical masks and cloth masks.

N95 masks, which take 25 hours for particles of the virus to pass to those who wear them, offer the best protection, with protection increasing to 2,500 hours if the mask fits snugly on the face. By comparison, surgical masks offer an hour of protection for users, while cloth masks offer 27 minutes of protection. Not masking at all offers just 15 minutes of protection.

In addition, the numbers changed depending on settings, like if a person wore a surgical mask in a room of cloth masks or vice versa. Questions are also raised regarding how long an N95 mask could be worn and whether or not it could be washed and reused.

While nurses often discard N95 masks in medical settings because of a fear of cross-contamination while rotating between patients, those using them in everyday circumstances should be fine for up to a week. However, CNN notes that washing an N95 mask is not a good idea, as washing will deteriorate its effectiveness.

People should also be wary of counterfeit N95 masks in the U.S. To ensure the masks are not counterfeit, buying masks from Centers of Disease Control and Prevention-approved sources is the most effective way at ensuring protection, though some may wonder if the CDC should change their guidance on masking and clarifying and updating their messaging.

For those who N95 masks are not a possibility, it is also a clever idea to double mask, which provides even more protection, even when it is consists of two cloth masks