Multilayer masks offer best protection: IISc. study

A team of researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) with the help of a high-speed camera to track the impact of individual cough-like droplets on protective wear, has concluded that multilayer masks are the most effective. When a person coughs, large droplets, greater than 200 microns, hit the inner surface of a mask at a high speed, penetrate the fabric and break up or atomise into smaller droplets, said IISc. in a press release. These droplets have a greater chance of aerosolisation, where they are converted into smaller particles that are light enough to be carried into air, along with the virus load.