{"id":33059,"date":"2020-07-16T12:06:32","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T18:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=33059"},"modified":"2024-02-22T06:36:38","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T13:36:38","slug":"wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks\/","title":{"rendered":"Science says: Wear a mask"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><figure id=\"attachment_33061\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33061\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-33061\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/16101304\/Woman-wearing-mask-tiny.webp\" alt=\"the science of masks. A young woman wears a mask.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/16101304\/Woman-wearing-mask-tiny.webp 600w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/16101304\/Woman-wearing-mask-tiny-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/16101304\/Woman-wearing-mask-tiny-150x100.webp 150w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/16101304\/Woman-wearing-mask-tiny-200x133.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33061\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The science of masks: how wearing them can reduce the spread of the highly infectious new coronavirus. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Wear a mask.<\/p>\n<p>Those three words, the simplest of commands, mask a staggering degree of scientific complexity.<br \/>\n<div class=\"su-callout-box col-xs-6 col-sm-6 right\" style=\"background-color:#dce4e7; color:#2e3b44;\">\n<h3><strong>Staying safe from airborne COVID-19 particles. Learn more:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/six-steps-to-slowing-airborne-aerosol-coronavirus-transmission\/\"><strong>Six steps to slow airborne aerosol coronavirus transmission<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/\">COVID-19 and airborne aerosols: What you need to know<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Make no mistake: amid this pandemic, you should wear a mask when in close contact with others outside your immediate circle, when in enclosed spaces with others outside the family bubble, and when in crowds outside or inside. But the science behind mask-wearing \u2013 like so much of the science related to the COVID-19 pandemic \u2013 remains a work in progress.<\/p>\n<p>The State of Colorado mandates \u2013 and many Colorado counties require \u2013 masks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/prevent-getting-sick\/about-face-coverings.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">masks<\/a>; the World Health Organization does too; UCHealth requires masks in hospitals, clinics and administrative areas. One model created by Colorado scientists assumes that masks reduce a wearer&#8217;s contagiousness by as much as 50%.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32507\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32507\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-32507 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/10202646\/Serious-mask-pic-tiny.webp\" alt=\"The science of masks. Dr. Michelle Barron, an infectious disease expert, recommends masks.\" width=\"600\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/10202646\/Serious-mask-pic-tiny.webp 600w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/10202646\/Serious-mask-pic-tiny-300x199.webp 300w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/10202646\/Serious-mask-pic-tiny-150x99.webp 150w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/10202646\/Serious-mask-pic-tiny-200x132.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32507\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;If you&#8217;re not social distancing, I think you should be wearing a mask,&#8221; says Dr. Michelle Barron, UCHealth&#8217;s top infectious disease expert. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re not social distancing, I think you should be wearing a mask,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/meet-the-top-infectious-disease-expert-in-colorado\/\">Dr. Michelle Barron<\/a>, medical director for infection control and prevention at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/locations\/uchealth-university-of-colorado-hospital-uch\/\">UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital<\/a> on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/locations\/uchealth-at-university-of-colorado-anschutz-medical-campus\/\">Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a> and a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. \u201cIt\u2019s really to prevent others from being exposed to your droplets and spittle without even knowing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The scientific questions surrounding masks \u2013 homemade or store-bought cloth masks and surgical-style masks, not the still-scarce N95s that health care workers need more than we do \u2013 are more nuanced. The mask-skeptical arguments rest on a couple of pillars. One is that there\u2019s little in the way of convincing, peer-reviewed proof that regular folks wearing cloth masks are protecting themselves or anyone else from COVID-19. Another is that many such masks aren\u2019t great in the first place, and even good ones often aren\u2019t being worn properly (that open-air nose defeats the purpose). Yet another is that masks may lull the wearer into a false sense of security in the crowded places and tight spaces where transmission risk is highest.<\/p>\n<p>No less an authority than University of Minnesota epidemiologist Michael Osterholm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/covid-19\/podcasts-webinars\/special-ep-masks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said<\/a> in June: \u201cThe messaging that dominates our COVID-19 discussions right now makes it seem that, if we are wearing cloth masks, you\u2019re not going to infect me and I\u2019m not going to infect you. I worry that many people highly vulnerable to life-threatening COVID-19 will hear this message and make decisions that they otherwise wouldn\u2019t have made about distancing because of an unproven sense of cloth-mask security. Distancing remains the most important risk reduction action we can take.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then why wear a mask?<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The science that supports wearing masks<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>One reason is that the science of masks is evolving, and all indications are that it\u2019s evolving toward the theory that masks are an effective way to slow the pandemic\u2019s spread. There are indeed few peer-reviewed studies on the effectiveness of masks on slowing the spread of the coronavirus. That\u2019s because the human disease the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes is still just months old. COVID-19 studies take time; so does peer review. More research, rest assured, is coming.<\/p>\n<p>Until then, we must largely rely on work that predates COVID-19 and mathematical models of the disease based on best estimates of how well masks and other coronavirus countermeasures work.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4420971\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2015 study<\/a> done in Vietnam compared cloth masks to surgical masks among 1,607 hospital health care workers and found that those wearing cloth masks ended up catching influenza more often (there was no mask-free control group). The same research group recently <a href=\"https:\/\/wwwnc.cdc.gov\/eid\/article\/26\/10\/20-0948_article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">revisited<\/a> the topic amid the COVID-19 epidemic. They concluded that, while health care workers need N95-class protection, \u201cThe general public can use cloth masks to protect against infection spread in the community,\u201d particularly in light of the many mild and asymptomatic coronaviruses cases.<\/p>\n<p>A 2013 British <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/24229526\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study<\/a> concluded that \u201ca homemade mask should only be considered as a last resort to prevent droplet transmission from infected individuals, but it would be better than no protection.\u201d A <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18612429\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2008 Dutch study<\/a> considered N95-style respirators, surgical masks, and cloth masks and found that they all would reduce exposure to airborne influenza virus in that order. An April 2020 review considering N95-class respirators, surgical masks, and homemade cloth masks came to much the same conclusion, as did a June 2020 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9\/fulltext#%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">review<\/a> in <em>The Lancet.<\/em> That study reviewed 172 observational studies and concluded that wearing masks reduce the risk of coronavirus infection \u2013 albeit with \u201clow certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The science of masks: cloth masks helped during the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic<\/h3>\n<p>Consider, though, that a century ago, there <em>were<\/em> only cloth masks, and they indeed <a href=\"https:\/\/wwwnc.cdc.gov\/eid\/article\/26\/10\/20-0948_article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lowered infection rates<\/a> for health care workers and others during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, the Manchurian plague epidemic of 1920-1921, and, in the 1930s and 1940s, tuberculosis. A study of U.S. mask mandates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthaffairs.org\/doi\/10.1377\/hlthaff.2020.00818\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">found<\/a> that mask wearing may have averted 230,000 to 450,000 coronavirus cases by late May. Another modeling <a href=\"http:\/\/www.healthdata.org\/news-release\/new-ihme-covid-19-model-projects-nearly-180000-us-deaths\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study<\/a> that estimated that, if 95% of the U.S. population wore masks, 18% fewer would die from the virus by Oct. 1 (including 125 fewer people in Colorado).<\/p>\n<p>The Colorado COVID-19 Modeling Group\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/cucovid19.shinyapps.io\/colorado\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interactive model<\/a> assumes masks reduce the wearer\u2019s contagiousness by 50%, though they add \u201cthere remains considerable uncertainty about this assumption.\u201d Among other sources, the Colorado group cites a preprint <a href=\"https:\/\/www.preprints.org\/manuscript\/202004.0203\/v3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">review article<\/a> by Jeremy Howard and colleagues that in turn discusses other modeling groups\u2019 work predicting that cloth masks to have enormous impact when widely worn. That article concludes that near-universal mask wearing could itself turn the pandemic\u2019s tide, with a positive economic impact of thousands of dollars per person per mask. (Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/06\/30\/business\/face-masks-economic-recovery-goldman-sachs\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">estimated<\/a> that masks could prevent the need for further lockdowns that could wipe out 5% of GDP.)<\/p>\n<p>The Colorado COVID-19 model shows masks to have an enormous impact: if everyone wore masks, statewide intensive care unit bed occupancy wouldn\u2019t exceed 71. With half of us wearing masks, a peak of 460 ICU beds would be filled with coronavirus patients by April 2020. If none wore a mask, 1,116 ICU beds would be filled by next January.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, masks \u2013 or something like masks \u2013 were shown to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/117\/28\/16587\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reduce<\/a> COVID-19 transmission among Syrian hamsters by about two-thirds. That study was among several that have led scientists to believe that not only droplets that quickly fall to the ground, but also tiny virus-carrying particles that can float about for hours \u2013 aerosols \u2013 are important COVID-19 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/covid-19-and-airborne-aerosols-what-you-need-to-know\/\">transmission routes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The physics behind mask-wearing<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>University of Colorado Boulder <a href=\"http:\/\/cires.colorado.edu\/jimenez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Prof. Jose-Luis Jimenez<\/a>, an expert on aerosols, atmospheric chemistry and air quality, turned his attention from air pollution to viral infection with the rise of COVID-19. His team\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/16K1OQkLD4BjgBdO8ePj6ytf-RpPMlJ6aXFg3PrIQBbQ\/htmlview?pru=AAABc3JXaT4*whR5LbrxX7AmKWosYAflRw#gid=519189277\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">coronavirus model<\/a> \u2013 one intended to help colleges understand the risk of in-person classes \u2013 assumes that cloth masks reduce coronavirus contagiousness by 50% if the wearer is the potential spreader and by 30% if the healthy wearer is exposed to someone with COVID-19. A mask\u2019s effectiveness is ultimately driven by physics, Jimenez explains. It\u2019s complicated \u2013 \u201cone could write a PhD dissertation on the computations of the fluid dynamics here,\u201d he said \u2013 but the basics are comprehensible to those of us less versed in Brownian motion and van der Walls force.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32921\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32921\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-32921 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08112132\/jose-luis_jiminez.webp\" alt=\"The science of masks. Jose-Luis Jimenez researches aerosols and airborn transmission of COVID-19\" width=\"300\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08112132\/jose-luis_jiminez.webp 300w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08112132\/jose-luis_jiminez-214x300.webp 214w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08112132\/jose-luis_jiminez-107x150.webp 107w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/08112132\/jose-luis_jiminez-200x280.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32921\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The science of masks is complex, says. Jose-Luis Jimenez, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. But, he says you should wear one and thicker is better than thin. Photo: University of Colorado Boulder.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Cloth masks are more effective in protecting others from the wearer than the other way around because, assuming a good fit, we exhale in respiratory jets, Jimenez says: \u201cVelocity gives inertia, and inertia makes the particles impact into the mask material.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When inhaling, the velocity of incoming particles is somewhat lower, and that means fewer collisions of droplets and aerosols with the mask material.<\/p>\n<p>He says that besides <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jljcolorado\/status\/1280935408398766080\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">proper fit<\/a>, a mask\u2019s material (thick being typically better than thin) and the number of layers matter: two layers have a better chance of snagging particles than one, for example. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eAdanPfQdCA&amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">N95 masks<\/a>, he adds, are more effective in part because they include electrically-charged fibers that\u00a0attract airborne virus-carrying particles. And beware of those masks with exhalation valves, Jimenez says, as they don\u2019t protect others at all. Finally, he says, talking emits far more respiratory particles than breathing, and singing or shouting emits more particles than talking.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRemoving the mask to talk \u2013 as we see some public officials do \u2013 removes a lot of the benefit of wearing masks,\u201d Jimenez said.<\/p>\n<p>Though scientists continue to study the effectiveness of cloth masks in slowing the spread of COVID-19, there\u2019s more than enough evidence to support their widespread use, Barron says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the day, I don\u2019t want anybody else sick,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if masks were only 10% effective, that would still be better than nothing. This can spread like wildfire. Even if you\u2019re young and healthy, others are vulnerable. It\u2019s not just your risk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wear a mask. Those three words, the simplest of commands, mask a staggering degree of scientific complexity. Make no mistake: amid this pandemic, you should wear a mask when in close contact with others outside your immediate circle, when in enclosed spaces with others outside the family bubble, and when in crowds outside or inside. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":33061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8],"tags":[4859,4860,162,4781],"class_list":["post-33059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-living","category-news","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-infectious-diseases","tag-research-in-health-care"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The science says: Wear a mask - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The science of masks is evolving, and all indications are that it\u2019s evolving toward the theory that masks are an effective way to slow the pandemic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Science says: Wear a mask\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The science of masks is evolving, and all indications are that it\u2019s evolving toward the theory that masks are an effective way to slow the pandemic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCHealth Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-16T18:06:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-22T13:36:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/16101304\/Woman-wearing-mask-tiny.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/da7733ff5562e48e55c027d111ee5911\"},\"headline\":\"Science says: Wear a mask\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-16T18:06:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-22T13:36:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks\/\"},\"wordCount\":1585,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/07\/16101304\/Woman-wearing-mask-tiny.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"coronavirus\",\"COVID-19\",\"Infectious diseases\",\"Research in health care\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Healthy living\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wear-a-mask-the-science-that-supports-masks\/\",\"name\":\"The science says: Wear a mask - 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