Is my cloth mask good enough to face the delta variant?

In recent months, some European airlines have banned the use of cloth face coverings to control the spread of the coronavirus during air travel, instead favoring surgical masks — sometimes referred to as medical or disposable — and N95 respirators.To get more news about famous FFP2 mask factory outlet, you can visit tnkme.com official website.

It’s another salvo in the debate over the effectiveness of the ubiquitous cloth mask, which sprang into fashion when surgical masks and N95s were harder to find in the pandemic’s early days. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still promotes cloth face coverings in its guidance about masks.

And masks remain a critical mitigation tool because people primarily become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, by inhaling small aerosol particles that linger in the air or large respiratory droplets produced in coughs and sneezes.

But the science is changing. Delta, currently the primary variant in the United States, is far more contagious than the original coronavirus, so the density of virus in the air is greater.

Some experts have adjusted their advice proportionally. “Given the delta variant that’s out there, you probably need to upgrade your mask,” Dr. Ashish Jha, a leading covid expert and dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said on “Fox News Sunday” earlier this month.Don’t worry if you are confused. Mask guidance has been mixed since the dawn of the pandemic, and new research has altered conventional thinking. We decided to dig in and sort out the latest developments.

First, people were told masking wasn’t necessary. Soon after, this recommendation changed, but the public was advised against purchasing surgical-style masks used by health professionals because of dire shortages of such protective gear. Americans instead were told to spring for cloth masks or make do-it-yourself versions. Shortages do not appear to be as big a problem now, though the CDC still advises against choosing N95 respirators.