The mantra “wear your mask” could soon be “wear your masks” as experts say two can be better in high-risk situations.
While healthcare workers often wear more than one – also so they don’t have to touch their faces to change them – some are encouraging the public to layer up.
Even Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to US President Joe Biden, said wearing two masks could help slow transmission of the coronavirus.
Dr Fauci himself often doubles up, as has Mr Biden in the past.
If you are not sure about the quality, then use two masks
"If you have a physical covering with one layer and you put another layer on it, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective," Dr Fauci told CNBC's Today show in the US.
Countries around the world are grappling with more infectious variants of the virus. Governments have introduced new lockdowns and travel restrictions to limit their spread. Vaccines have brought hope the pandemic could be ending but mask-wearing will still be vital for the foreseeable future because it is not clear whether inoculation prevents transmission.
Experts have also cautioned that masks limit the spread of infection rather than protecting the wearer from catching the virus.
Dr Ponnusamy Tamilvendan, specialist for internal medicine at Medeor Hospital in Dubai, said the answer to the question over how many to wear depends on the type.
An N95 mask, which refers to a US standard that blocks 95 per cent of particles, is believed to be the best.
Another option is a surgical mask, which is made from three layers, followed next by cloth masks, which are the least efficient at filtering virus particles.
“If you wear an N95 mask, I don’t think anything more is needed,” said Dr Tamilvendan.
“But if you are wearing something flimsy like a cloth mask, adding another offers better protection.
“Surgical masks don’t offer full protection. So you can wear two if you are exposed to very contaminated areas. But if you are wearing an N95, that is enough, even in contaminated areas.”
Dr Shreehari Pillai, medical administrator and specialist in internal medicine at NMC Specialty Hospital, Abu Dhabi, said two masks are sometimes necessary in countries such as the US, where people tend to use cloth masks.
“What we use here is the surgical masks. Surgical masks already have three layers inside and they are medical grade. A single surgical mask is good enough,” he said.
“Otherwise there is no superiority, because the outer layer of the mask is usually waterproof. And if you put a cloth mask on top of it, it can interfere with it.”
It can, however, be hard to know whether a mask in the UAE is medical grade, as many of them have patterns, rather than the standard surgical blue colour.
“It should be indicated on the packet. Preferably, if you buy it from the pharmacy it should be medical,” said Dr Pillai.
Experts have consistently said mask wearing was only effective along with distancing and handwashing. Analysis from the US also outlined the benefits of “double-masking”. Its authors included Linsey Marr, a virus transmission expert at Virginia Tech.
The report said for maximum protection, members of the public can either wear a cloth mask tightly on top of a surgical mask or wear a three-layer mask “with outer layers consisting of a flexible, tightly woven fabric that can conform well to the face and a middle layer consisting of a nonwoven high-efficiency filter material (eg, vacuum bag material)”.
“If the masks fit well, these combinations should produce an overall efficiency of >90 per cent for particles 1mm and larger, which corresponds to the size of respiratory aerosols that we think are most important in mediating transmission of Covid-19,” the analysis said.
Dr Tamilvendan said if there is any uncertainty, there is no harm in doubling up.
“If you are not sure about the quality, then use two masks,” he said.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3EName%3A%20DarDoc%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Samer%20Masri%2C%20Keswin%20Suresh%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%24800%2C000%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Flat6Labs%2C%20angel%20investors%20%2B%20Incubated%20by%20Hub71%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi's%20Department%20of%20Health%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%2010%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The%20Crown%20season%205
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EImelda%20Staunton%2C%20Jonathan%20Pryce%2C%20Lesley%20Manville%2C%20Jonny%20Lee%20Miller%2C%20Dominic%20West%2C%20Elizabeth%20Debicki%2C%20Salim%20Daw%20and%20Khalid%20Abdalla%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWritten%20by%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPeter%20Morgan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%20stars%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Stage result
1. Pascal Ackermann (GER) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 3:29.09
2. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto-Soudal
3. Rudy Barbier (FRA) Israel Start-Up Nation
4. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Jumbo-Visma
5. Luka Mezgec (SLO) Mitchelton-Scott
6. Alberto Dainese (ITA) Sunweb
7. Jakub Mareczko (ITA) CCC
8. Max Walscheid (GER) NTT
9. José Rojas (ESP) Movistar
10. Andrea Vendrame (ITA) Ag2r La Mondiale, all at same time
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
