How Safe Are Cotton Scarfs Modiji

After battling against fatal coronavirus for almost one and a half years, the world is very well accustomed to wearing face masks. In fact, face mask has become a vital part of our daily lives. During the first wave of the pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was often seen wearing a cotton scarf as a face cover. He also wrapped a towel as a substitute for a face mask.

In the initial days of the pandemic, Modi’s video conference with chief ministers of different states showed him wearing a towel around his face in the public domain. He later urged his party members and followers to wrap the towel saying that masks are meant to be worn by doctors and health workers and common people can wrap towels alone.

His Manipuri patterned towels went popular on all wrong levels and people flaunted their homemade masks or DIY masks made out of cotton. But, with half baked knowledge comes menacing consequences. As the majority of Indians joined the bandwagon after political leaders buttressed Modi’s idea of wrapping a towel, the earnest desire to wear a proper mask has diminished among the public.

Modi’s gamcha trend and people wearing cloth masks have become the antithesis of what the corona situation demanded. Today, even after we are miserably hit with the second wave, not wearing a proper mask is still one of the many reasons for extremities in the ongoing pandemic. The argument on wearing a cloth mask has been strengthened by the emergence of more transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2.

The new variants have completely changed the game and wrapping towels or simple DIY masks are not appropriate, which were also not in the first place. The new study proves that double masking is effective as the outer mask can help seal the corners of the inner mask and create better protection. One should wear a cloth mask above a three-layer mask or wear an N95 mask but never a cloth mask alone. Since the virus spreads through respiratory droplets or aerosols, two layers can help increase the filtration and provide protection.