In the News: Analyzing the Need for Facemarks
Margaret Sietsema, PhD, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences, was featured in Medium on the benefits of a face mask outdoors, advising that natural factors like wind and weather tend to disperse aerosol particles fairly quickly. She stressed that reliance on masks should not supersede the need for social distancing and sheltering in place at home.
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Not every one of those aerosols that come out that person’s mouth is the same size. Some of the particles are going to be larger and some of the particles are going to be much smaller. We know that small particles stay airborne much longer, so it’s not totally unlikely that the smaller particles are going to travel further, and someone else will be able to breathe them in at some distance.
| Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences