Neck gaiter
A neck gaiter or neck warmer is a
for the lower legs, a neck gaiter augments the protection offered by other garments.Some longer neck gaiters can also be pulled up and cover the
Informal medical uses
Following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, some media and governmental entities have included neck gaiters among apparel items for non-medical personnel to use to shield against viruses, when conventional personal protective equipment is unavailable. Examples have included WebMD[1] and Riverside County, California health officials.[2]
In 2020, a method was developed which allowed researchers to visualize the effect of masks blocking droplet emission during speaking.
In a later study (2021) funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers found that neck gaiters and other face masks can significantly reduce the expulsion of small respiratory aerosol particles during coughing, suggesting that various types of face coverings can make an important contribution to reducing the quantity of aerosol particles containing viruses—such as SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic—released into the environment by infected people.[8] The results showed that a single-layered gaiter blocked 47% and a double-layered gaiter blocked 60% of the test aerosols from being released into the environment, with increasing efficiency at larger aerosol sizes and vice versa.[8] However, by that point much of the damage had been done as many businesses and corporations such as Disney, Spirit Airlines, and Carnival Cruise Lines had enacted policies prohibiting the use of gaiters as an acceptable type of face covering.
References
- ^ Hansa D. Bhargava, MD (April 16, 2020). "Coronavirus Face Masks: What You Should Know". WebMD.
- ^ Luke Money; Deborah Netburn; Rong-Gong Lin II (April 2, 2020). "Face masks could provide coronavirus protection. But there's a 'but'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
- PMID 32917603.
- ^ a b Lambert, Jonathan (12 August 2020). "4 reasons you shouldn't trash your neck gaiter based on the new mask study". Science News.
- ^ a b Saplakoglu, Yasemin (13 August 2020). "Should you ditch your gaiter as a face mask? Not so fast, scientists say". Live Science.
- ^ Parker-Pope, Tara (17 August 2020). "Save the Gaiters!". The New York Times.
- ^ Krubsack, Rachel (14 August 2020). "Gaiters getting a bad rap for COVID-19 protection?". J. J. Keller.
- ^ PMID 35924077.