Many people nowadays do not wear special medical masks, but home-made ones, including bandanas and scarves.
However, according to a new study, bandanas are the least effective DIY face mask.
Florida Atlantic University scientists were experimenting with different non-medical masks to determine the most effective face covering to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Click Orlando reported.
“They “delivered” a sneeze or cough from a mannequin head wearing varying face coverings and used lasers to detect respiratory droplets. The results showed that droplets from an uncovered cough were able to travel more than 8 feet.
Droplets from a bandana-covered cough traveled 3 feet,” it is noted. “With a folded cotton handkerchief, droplets traveled 1 foot, 3 inches, and with the cone-style masks, they traveled about 8 inches.
Stitched-quilting fabric masks were the most effective, with droplets traveling 2.5 inches.”
