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Face masks could raise pollution risks

People can get a false sense of security from flimsy gauze, and linger too long outdoors in toxic air, argue Wei Huang and Lidia Morawska.
  1. Wei Huang

    1. Wei Huang is a professor in the Faculty of Environmental Health at Peking University School of Public Health in Beijing, China. She is leading systematic reviews on air-pollution interventions organized by the WHO, including one on mask use.

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  2. Lidia Morawska

    1. Lidia Morawska, is a professor in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

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Across Asia, and increasingly elsewhere, people are wearing medical masks in the street. Young and old, people are tying gauze squares over their noses and mouths when they step outside.

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Nature 574, 29-30 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02938-1

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