What do coronavirus variants mean for your masks?

What do coronavirus variants mean for your masks? Experts say masks remain incredibly important - and that means making sure you have one that fits well and offers adequate protection. NBC News

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that when it comes to wearing two masks to protect against the coronavirus, it "makes common sense" that more than one layer of masking would be more effective.

There is no specific research on how well face coverings work against new variants of the virus, including the more transmissible variant from the United Kingdom that has been detected in at least 22 states in the United States.

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A mask "is a physical covering to prevent droplets," Fauci said Monday on NBC's "TODAY" show. "So, if you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective."

Asked at a White House briefing last week whether the new variant would make masks less effective, he said that on the contrary, the variants are "the reason why you absolutely should be wearing a mask."

Dr. Marybeth Sexton, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, agrees with Fauci's view.

The new variants "may lead people who have them to have a higher amount of virus in their nose, in their mouth, so that when they breathe or talk or cough or sing, they may put more viral particles out in the environment than the average person," she said.

But, Sexton added, "that should not be a huge problem if everybody has a mask on." ...