Face masks aren’t a very effective way to prevent the spread of coronavirus, experts say, despite spiking sales

Sales of face masks are spiking in China and around the world amid a coronavirus outbreak.
For the average person, wearing a mask is not as effective as everyday measures like hand-washing and avoiding close contact with anyone who might be infected.
The CDC recommends that healthcare providers and those who might be infected wear masks, however.

Of the many preventative measures you can take to protect yourself from the coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan, China, wearing a face mask is one of the most visible. But health experts don’t think it’ll help much.

“There’s little harm in it,” Eric Toner, a scientist at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said of donning a mask. “But it’s not likely to be very effective in preventing it.”

Since the coronavirus outbreak started on December 31, more than 2,800 people have been infected and 81 have died. Cases have been recorded in 13 countries including the US and Canada.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the best precautions are the standard, everyday ways to avoid all germs: wash your hands frequently, try not to touch your face, and avoid close contact with sick people.

However, the CDC has directed healthcare providers to give surgical masks to any patients that present flu-like symptoms or have recently traveled to Wuhan. That lowers the risk that a potentially infected person could spread the coronavirus to others via saliva or phlegm.

The CDC also recommends that doctors and nurses treating potentially infected patients wear masks and goggles.

But for the average person, a mask is probably not necessary.

Face masks are designed to catch large contaminants and particles, including ones that might carry pathogens such as the coronavirus. There are two common kinds: surgical masks and N95 respirators.

N95 respirators filter out most airborne particles from the surrounding air, preventing wearers from breathing in particles down to 0.3 microns in diameter. These types of masks are often used when air quality is poor due to wildfire smoke or pollution, and they’re designed to fit tightly against one’s face. However, the coronavirus measures 0.12 microns in diameter.

Surgical masks, meanwhile, are designed to keep large particle droplets and splatter from passing from a person’s mouth to nearby surfaces or people. So they’re primarily meant to keep healthcare providers from spreading their own mouth-borne germs to patients. Surgical masks are looser-fitting than N95 respirators.

However, many people do not wear either type of face mask properly. Wearers often move the masks to the side to touch their faces throughout the day, breaking the barrier that the mask is supposed to create. This makes the protection ineffective.
People in the US probably don’t need masks

With only five confirmed cases in the US, the risk of contracting Wuhan coronavirus is “way too low to start wearing a face mask,” Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, co-director of the University of Washington MetaCenter for Pandemic Preparedness and Global Health Security, told the New York Times.

The CDC has also said “the immediate health risk to the general American public is considered low at this time.”

In Wuhan, China, however, authorities there have urged all citizens to wear masks in public places, since the virus seems to have an incubation period of up to two weeks. The city is currently under quarantine.

Many stores in China have reportedly sold out of masks, and prices have soared with demand. Cao Jun, the general manager for mask manufacturer Lanhine in China, told Reuters that demand has reached 200 million masks per day. Lanhine’s normal production rate is 400,000 per day.

Even in New York’s Chinatown, Reuters reported, face masks are flying off the shelves.

Written by Holly Secon