But in 1918 they were using specifically gauze, presumably because it's easier to breathe through, or maybe just because it seems medical-y.
The study in the NYT article is using non-woven paper masks, which act a decent barrier to ballistic particles. Gauze would be way less effective than even loose woven fabric at stoping the 5um particles they're measuring. Like the paper masks, it would be completely ineffective at stopping the influenza-carrying aerosols.
"nearly 100%" is a pretty big misstatement of the study as well, while it showed a statistically significant difference between the groups, so much of the no-mask control group recorded 0 virus load from droplets that the size of the effect can't be meaningfully quantified
The study in the NYT article is using non-woven paper masks, which act a decent barrier to ballistic particles. Gauze would be way less effective than even loose woven fabric at stoping the 5um particles they're measuring. Like the paper masks, it would be completely ineffective at stopping the influenza-carrying aerosols.
"nearly 100%" is a pretty big misstatement of the study as well, while it showed a statistically significant difference between the groups, so much of the no-mask control group recorded 0 virus load from droplets that the size of the effect can't be meaningfully quantified