Study: Ear loop masks create lots of room for error


The masks with elastic ear loops, which many people are wearing for coronavirus, can be largely inefficient in terms of filtering. That’s according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine.

According to the study:

Procedure masks with ear loops performed at 38.1% [filtration efficiency] and were the least effective when moving the head left and right (21.2% [filtration efficiency]), and created visible gaps between the face mask and the wearer. 

JAMA Internal Medicine

The study found that masks secured with ties rather than with elastic ear loops are much more efficient at filtration.

It also stated that, under the theory that coronavirus is often transmitted on relatively large droplets, even masks that don’t filter smaller particles with great efficiency can still be helpful in filtering larger droplets containing Covid-19 .

Also on the plus side, the study concluded that for medical professionals, when there is a shortage of N95 masks (named for their 95% filtration efficiency), there are other alternatives that can work well.

Read all about it at the link below:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2769443?rm=081120


Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

3 thoughts on “Study: Ear loop masks create lots of room for error”

  1. Masks are not the solution they’re made out to be and we all know it….well, a good number of us know it. The best protection is to bury our heads in the sand.

  2. Since I’m forced to “mask up,” I’ll stick with my ear loop masks, thank you. I started with a tie-back mask and not only is it a nuisance, but I see no difference in coverage. The hypocrisy of the masks is that people believe since they have a mask on they don’t have to distance. And in any case there remains controversy over what the correct distance is in the first place. The virus will magically disappear at midnight on November 3rd.

Scroll to Top