THIS IS A HUGE FUCKING DEAL

As we're getting a chance to look at more COVID clusters, we're finding cloth masks don't necessarily *keep you from getting infected*

But they DO dramatically increase the odds that your case will be mild, low-symptom or asymptomatic. https://twitter.com/LauraMNewberry/status/1283075419260907521

That's bc your body has a lot easier time fighting off a few viruses than a giant dose.

Cloth masks don't screen out 100% of virus particles- but they keep out most. The few that make it through are much easier for your immune system to subdue than a full unmasked faceload.

We've known for a long time that some respiratory viruses can behave this way- lower dosage means a milder case of the disease.

But we weren't sure if COVID was one of them.

Now with more information, it looks like it is.

(This is also why medical staff working around lots of virus still use N95, not cloth. Say for ex a cloth mask keeps out 90% of viruses- 10% of a few million viruses is still way too much. They need N95s with 100% exclusion. But for civilians running errands, 90% is good.)

This is also really important for messaging.

1) Cloth masks DO protect you, not just other people

2) And they protect you by letting your immune system stay ahead of the virus on its own.

Those are both things that uhhhhhh preach outside the choir

obligatory mask push

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FunkyFreshNoFogMasks

for real though I'm just

so fucking relieved

they protect wearers not just bystanders

thank frick

we have a thing that works *for ourselves*

like we shouldn't get too reliant on this 1 thing because it's not 100% foolproof. still gotta wash hands etc

but BOY does it help

I'm gonna point out that you have to be disciplined with the masking for this to work. You see a lot of places (neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, etc) where there's a "masking order" in place but it's kind of treated as "yeah yeah whatever" & folks wear them like a necklace : /

Lots of workplaces with "mandatory masking" still managed to have large outbreaks with severe infections & death. Off the cuff, but my personal observation is these places tend to have had poor safety culture even before COVID & treat PPE like a box to check off.

They're not ... magic talismans & fucking amulets you hang around your neck

they have to actually be there in between your lungs & the outside world to work

otherwise it's kinda like wearing condoms on a necklace & being surprised you still got the clap

anyway. holy moley. big mood

and obviously stay tuned because there's still a lot to learn about COVID, seems like every week there's a new wrinkle of info about how it spreads

but this is. a big deal