FOLKS—we found who created the epic “Wear a Mask” Beauty & the Beast video!

Created and sung by Noah Lindquist @noahlindquist96 and Ashley Young @singerinkansas.

Thank you Noah and Ashley from public health advocates everywhere! #COVID19 #WearAMask

2) Do masks really work? Heck yes!!! I’m going to walk folks thru a thread of evidence.

MASKS do work!!

Association Between Universal Masking in a Health Care System and SARS-CoV-2 Positivity Among Health Care Workers https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2768533

3) A big scientific evidence review study on face masks.

“We recommend that public officials and governments strongly encourage the use of widespread face masks in public, including the use of appropriate regulation.” #COVID19 https://europepmc.org/article/PPR/PPR186793

4) Another big study on #masks.

“As a result of the implementation (mask) mandates, more than 200,000 COVID-19 cases were averted by May 22, 2020. The findings suggest that requiring face mask use in public could help in mitigating the spread of #COVID19” https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00818

5) and a recent CDC @CDCMMWR report on Arizona outbreak. Masks clearly indicated to have helped. #COVID19 #Masks https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6940e3.htm

6) Another study (preprint) on masks and deaths.

“Conclusions. Societal norms & govt policies supporting wearing of masks by the public, as well as international travel controls, are independently associated w/ lower per-capita mortality from #COVID19” https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.22.20109231v5

7) yet Trump misled people on masks:

“he repeated an incorrect claim about masks, citing a recent report from CDC.”

So CDC tweeted back:

“The interpretation that more mask-wearers are getting infected compared to non-mask wearers is incorrect,” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1243562

8) Another case on mask protecting an infectious person on a plane from infecting anyone else because he wore a #mask. https://twitter.com/Atul_Gawande/status/1317619176761118721

9) that said, *cloth* masks are only as good if entire or vast majority of people wear them. But this doesn’t happen during indoor dining and bars or airplanes.

For self protection if many don’t wear around you, premium masks likely needed. https://twitter.com/Atul_Gawande/status/1317619177700601856

10) A lot of people ask about “premium masks”. I don’t use N95 - save those for HCW. I use KN95 and S Korean KF94. And I sometimes double up indoors when cant distance. KF94s are quite comfortable actually and widely used in South Korea https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1316191229655363584

11) While you can order premium masks like KN95 & KF94 online (Eg Amazon), I don’t know which are fakes / real. That said, KN95’s also sold in stores like @StaplesStores. Hopefully they vetted their products for authenticity. That’s also why I double mask—in case one is fake.

12) newest aerosol study (CDC journal) indeed indicates that coronavirus is persistent and stable in the air for 20 min to 4 hours or longer in stagnant air. This is why we mask for #COVID19

13) hence 6 feet rule not enough indoors without masks.

14) Masks are critical in reducing aerosol spread—see how masks make all the difference. #COVID19

15) Now that aerosol transmission of the coronavirus is established, we need to both mask and disperse aerosols quickly. Key is ventilation. Japan assumed it was airborne from the very beginning. Hence their mask culture and focus on air flow. #COVID19