# Coronavirus general discussion and chit-chat

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903>\
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone\
**Tags:** covid-quarantine\
**Created:** [August 12, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903 "2020-08-12T17:29:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 671

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**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2021, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-general-discussion-and-chit-chat/917903/671 "2021-09-06T16:07:30Z")

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> [@Leaper](#):
>
> Shouldn’t we at least consider making surgical masks to be the bare minimum to have an impact on this hugely raging pandemic?

That study concludes that cloth masks have variable efficacy, not that they never work. There are tons of nice three-layer, well-fitted cloth masks out there that work as well as surgical masks for source control. Other fitted cloth masks with filters work even better than surgical masks. Even gaiters are not bad if they’re doubled-up. By the way, not all surgical masks are high-quality. In that study, people were provided good surgical masks.

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