Textile Masks and Surface Covers – A ‘Universal Droplet Reduction Model’ Against Respiratory Pandemics

The main form of COVID-19 transmission is via ‘oral-respiratory droplet contamination’ (droplet; very small drop of liquid) produced when individuals talk, sneeze or cough. In hospitals, health-care workers wear facemasks as a minimum medical ‘ droplet precaution ’ to protect themselves. Due to the shortage of masks during the pandemic, priority is given to hospitals for their distribution. As a result, the availability/use of medical masks is discouraged for the public. However, given that asymptomatic individuals, not wearing masks within the public, can be highly contagious for COVID-19, prevention of ‘ environmental droplet contamination ’ (EnDC) from coughing/sneezing/speech is fundamental to reducing transmission. As an immediate solution to promote ‘ public droplet safety’ , we assessed household textiles to quantify their potential as effective environmental droplet barriers (EDBs). The synchronized implementation of a universal ‘ community droplet reduction solution ’ is discussed as a model against COVID-19. Using a bacterial-suspension spray simulation model of droplet ejection (mimicking a sneeze), we quantified the extent by which widely available clothing fabrics reduce the dispersion of droplets onto surfaces within 1.8m, the minimum distance recommended for COVID-19 ‘social distancing’. All textiles reduced the number of droplets reaching surfaces, restricting their dispersion to <30cm, when used as single layers. When used as double-layers, textiles were as effective as medical mask/surgical-cloth materials, reducing droplet dispersion to <10cm, and the area of circumferential contamination to ∼0.3%. The synchronized implementation of EDBs as a ‘community droplet reduction solution’ ( i . e ., face covers/scarfs/masks & surface covers) could reduce EnDC and the risk of transmitting or acquiring infectious respiratory pathogens, including COVID-19.