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Wearing a face covering in public during the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic is sound advice (and in some circumstances a legal requirement) that could help slow the spread of the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But just how effective are these masks? In April 2020, many social media users encountered a simple chart that supposedly showed how effective face masks could be at preventing coronavirus infections: We're skeptical about the accuracy of this chart. It doesn't appear to have originated with a reputable source; this meme does not specify the type of mask (homemade cloth mask, surgical mask, or N95 mask) used in the chart; and we were unable to find any studies that confirm these specific percentages. We've seen this chart posted by a variety of accounts on several different platforms but have yet to come across any information about who created it. While we're not certain if this chart was created by an anonymous social media user (social media has been a hotbed of bad medical information during the COVID-19 pandemic) or from a reputable organization, the evidence indicates that it came from the former. We were not, for instance, able to find this chart on the CDC website. The CDC even has a page dedicated to Respiratory Protection Infographics, but the above-displayed chart is not included on that page. This chart is also absent from the CDC's page that recommends the use of cloth face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC confirmed to us that it did not create this chart and that the agency could not confirm the accuracy of these statistics. At the moment, a spokesperson told us, there is not enough data to quantify risk reduction from the use of masks. The punctuation in this chart may provide a clue about its origins. While the percent sign is commonly placed after the number in English and many other languages, this symbol comes before the number in Turkish. As luck would have it, we found a variation of this chart in Turkish that has been circulating on Facebook since April 10: In addition to this chart's unknown origins, another reason to be skeptical of these numbers is that this social media post does not identify the type of mask being used. Is this chart about homemade cloth masks? Surgical masks? Or the N95 respirator mask? These masks all provide different levels of protection against the spread of disease, with the N95 being the most effective. The FDA explains the differences: The CDC elaborated on the purpose of wearing homemade cloth masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC writes that since many people with coronavirus may be asymptomatic, meaning that they don't show any symptoms, wearing a cloth mask can prevent these contagious individuals from unknowingly spreading the disease: When we reached out to the CDC, a spokesperson reiterated this point, saying that wearing a mask is a good way of strengthening the social distancing that we are already doing. A spokesperson for the CDC told us: The numbers provided in the above-displayed viral social media post are also suspiciously specific. While there have been studies regarding the efficacy of masks during COVID-19 pandemic, researchers are still learning about how this disease spreads and how to best prevent it. For instance, Live Science noted that two recent studies regarding the efficacy of face masks during this pandemic came to slightly different conclusions. Live Science writes: Some experts have also expressed concern that widespread use of homemade cloth masks give people a false sense of security. The White House's coronavirus response coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, said that social distancing is still the most important preventative measure a person can take during this pandemic: The World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated this point. WHO said in a statement that masks alone cannot stop the pandemic:
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