Earlier today, I told you to wear a damn mask when you go to the polls, and reader Clinton Weir wanted to know … weren’t masks mostly supposed to be useful for preventing the spread of COVID-19 to other people? Do they actually protect the people who wear them, as well?
It’s a super interesting question! And one of those spots where the expert consensus has been shifting in recent months. A lot of this is coming from animal model studies, but researchers are starting to think masks protect the wearer more than we thought they did, initially. For example, a University of Hong Kong study using hamsters found that animals protected by mask material both caught less of the disease and also had less-severe cases of the disease. We’re not talking about perfect protection, by any means, but this is a war of inches, and every bit helps.