MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County Health Department said there are no confirmed cases of the highly transmissible COVID-19 variants here, but local doctors suggest double masking could protect us from those strains if and when they arrive.
“This new variant or new variants seem to be more infectious and anything you can do to keep from getting infected makes really good sense right now,” said Dr. Jeff Warren with the Memphis/Shelby County COVID-19 Task Force.
Healthcare leaders believe the U.K. varriant, which has spread to 28 states across the nation including Tennessee, will be the dominant strain by March. It’s considered to be much more contagious, which is why doctors say we need to step up our efforts to keep everyone safe.
During an appearance this week on the “Today” show, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading health expert, said said doubling up on masks may be one way to do that.
“It likely does because this is a physical covering to prevent droplets and virus to get in,” he replied. “If you have a physical covering with one layer and you put another layer on it, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective.”
It’s something Dr. Warren said he’s been doing for months.
“I wear an N95 and then I have a cloth mask over it to keep the N95 clean and provide a little more protection,” he said.
He encouraged others to do the same when appropriate. You can wear two cloth masks or even a scarf with a mask. He said basically anything that provides extra layers would work.
“Wear two masks when you’re in crowded places like grocery stores or you’re going into restaurants to order and do pickup or something like that,” he said.
But be warned: wearing too many masks could make it difficult to breathe.