Can Cloth Masks Protect You Against Omicron? This Is What Medical Experts Are Saying About Cloth Masks

Latest updates reveal that the governments around the world are tightening restrictions to try and stop the spread of highly infectious omicron causing Covid infections as it surges worldwide. 

Masks Are Again In Fashion

Once again, Omicron is making people reach out for their colorful, reusable cloth face masks.

On the subject of masks, professor of primary health care services at the University of Oxford, Trish Greenhalgh said, “They can be really good or really terrible,” depending on what fabric is used. 

How To Select A Mask? 

Masks seem to be a sensitive subject as they are available in so many varieties with different colors, layers,brands and shapes. 

If you are worried about the number of layers then double or triple-layer masks made of a mix of materials is more effective.

Be warned that most of the cloth coverings are just “fashion accessories,”  Greenhalgh said.

No Health Standard For Mask

So far, the governments around the world are tightening restrictions to try and stop its spread as the highly infectious omicron causes Covid infections to surge worldwide. 

Britain has reintroduced compulsory mask wearing on public transport, shops and in some indoor venues at the start of this month. 

Previously, the country has relaxed the rules in the summer. 

So far, authorities in different parts of the world have said different things about when and where healthy people should wear face masks and what type of coverings they should choose during the pandemic.

But, the main issue with a cloth covering is they don’t have to meet any kind of health standard, according to Greenhalgh. 

On the other hand, N95 respirator masks manufacturers have to make sure they filter out 95% of particles.

Breathable Mask

But all this filtration becomes in vain if the mask doesn’t cover your nose and mouth properly. 

Beside this, the mask user also needs to be able to breathe easily through the mask, Greenhalgh added. 

So thickness Or having more layers won’t help either. 

It seems that the environmentally or money-worried consumers reach out for cloth masks. 

Reason being, they could be washed and can be used frequently. 

Presently, there are reusable coverings that meet filtration standards available now.

In Canada, they are advisung people to ditch single-layer clothes masks in favor of tighter fitted ones.

Explaining it, the head of Ontario’s Science Advisory Table, Peter Juni said, “The issue here is if you have a single-layer, the ability to filter is absolutely minimal and doesn’t make a difference whatsoever,”.