Another option that’s on the rise are masks with clear plastic or vinyl centers, which make the mouth visible, and can be particularly useful when communicating, especially with people who are hearing-impaired.
Although these masks can help aid social interactions, as they have not yet been tested for effectiveness, Edwards cautions against relying on them for protection.
“Any kind of integration of a plastic material that is otherwise kind of impenetrable to particles, you want to just know that the seal is good,” he says.
“I think the psychology of the pandemic is to want to wear something that looks great, but I think there’s a danger for sure that these masks aren’t effective,” he adds. “Anything with an open flap is probably a bad idea.”
Although there is currently no data on the effectiveness of masks with a plastic center, John Whyte, MD, the Chief Medical Officer at WebMD and an MSNBC healthcare correspondent, has said that the windowed masks could potentially offer even more protection due to the plastic center — and might prevent some people from taking their masks off during conversations in an effort to be understood better.
“I love to see these other [mask] iterations because anything that’s going to help people wear it, it’s going to be a good thing,” he recently told PEOPLE, pointing out the importance of people finding a face covering they’ll actually wear.
A group of researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science recently found that without any mask, the droplets from a cough traveled more than 8 feet — past even the recommended 6 feet for social distancing.
Although tightly-fitted respirator mask is best for protecting a person and anyone around them, a recent study found that the risk of coronavirus transmission went down by 85 percent when people wore a mask.
“At this point masking is really important, washing hands is really important, social distancing is really important. Anything is better than nothing,” Edwards tells PEOPLE.
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