Social Distancing: Double Masking It

Pros & Cons Of Doubling Up COVID Protection

Masks are the way of the land now during the pandemic. There are mandates in most states and cities. They help protect you from getting COVID, or spreading it if you’re a carrier. They’re even fashion statements now. But the new trend could be double masks. Dr. Anthony Fauci, among others, says wearing two cloth masks is more likely to help prevent the spread of COVID. And with new variants that spread more easily starting to show up in our region, any little bit of protection helps.

So I tried it out. I started wearing double masks around the office yesterday.
There were some pros and cons to doing it.
Pro: It definitely felt a little safer. Maybe it’s a psychological thing, but it did help my piece of mind.
And the fit around my face was definitely more snug. There was much less space around the edges of the mask for any unwanted COVID particles to get in. But I still had no problem breathing through two masks.

Now for the cons: The double masks tugged at my ears quite a bit more. They weren’t slipping off right away, but I felt the urge to keep playing with the loops around my ear to make sure they stayed on.
And the tighter fit did make it harder to talk a little. If I opened my mouth wide I was worried the masks would slip off.
But muzzling me may be a pro to some of you. I don’t know.

I asked you on Facebook and Twitter if you’d start wearing two masks. About 80 percent of you said no.
The CDC just recommends wearing a mask with multiple layers, not two full masks.
Let me know what you think on Facebook and Twitter.