The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned people that cloth face masks will not protect wearers from wildfire smoke, prompting questions about its face mask guidance in regards to the coronavirus.
And here’s @cdcgov warning ordinary (non-N95) masks will do nothing to protect you against wildfire smoke because “they do not catch small particles.”
Fun fact: smoke particles are far larger than #SARSCoV2.
Your mask protects… well, no one. pic.twitter.com/sFJzzGNLVa
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) September 11, 2020
“Cloth masks that are used to slow the spread of COVID-19 by blocking respiratory droplets offer little protection against wildfire smoke,” the CDC wrote on its website this week in response to several major wildfires breaking out on the West Coast.
“They do not catch small, harmful particles in smoke that can harm your health,” it said.
As former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson pointed out, smoke particles are larger than COVID-19 particles—which raises the question: Do face masks even work?
The CDC has changed its guidance on face masks several times.
At the start of the pandemic, the agency actually discouraged Americans from wearing face coverings, arguing that only those
Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!
They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!
https://t.co/UxZRwxxKL9— U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) February 29, 2020
In April, however, the CDC flip-flopped and urged Americans to wear face coverings while in public spaces.
As a result, many businesses now mandate face masks, and presidential candidate Joe Biden has even suggested that he would implement a national mask mandate if elected.
