An infectious disease researcher answers the question “does one-way masking work?”
and how to protect yourself.
Several aircraft carriers havedropped their mask mandates as a result.

Experts in This Article
Mary Rodgers, PhD, is the principal scientist in Abbotts diagnostics business.
First, lets discusswhy masks are a useful form of protectionagainst COVID-19.
As Dr. Rodgers definition implies, masks are a way of looking out for your fellow human beings.

Mary Rodgers, PhD, is the principal scientist in Abbott’s diagnostics business. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Mary and her team were part of the development of many COVID-19 tests – including BinaxNOW – and have been tracking the virus and its variants since then to help mitigate the spread.
But what if no one else is masking?
Does that count for anything?
Its Amazing How Its All Connected.

There is evidence thatmasks help protect the wearer, even if others arent masking, she says.
However, its important to also integrate other protective measuresespecially if the folks around you arent masking.
This is particularly important if youre in ahigh-risk COVID-19 population.

Plus, were still seeing long-term effects from COVID even in people with mild illness.
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