While the debate over the efficacy of masks has often popped up on social media, a demonstration by a US-based doctor showing the effectiveness of wearing a mask has gone viral online, triggering the discussion again. "What does a mask do? Blocks respiratory droplets coming from your mouth and throat," microbiologist Dr. Rich Davis from Spokane, Washington state tweeted while sharing pictures of bacteria culture plate he had coughed, sneezed and talked upon - one masked and the other unmasked. "Two simple demos: First, I sneezed, sang, talked & coughed toward an agar culture plate with or without a mask. Bacteria colonies show where droplets landed. A mask blocks virtually all of them," he wrote. What about keeping your distance? Second demo: I set open bacteria culture plates 2, 4 and 6 feet away and coughed (hard) for ~15s. I repeated this without a mask. As seen by number of bacteria colonies, droplets mostly landed <6 ft, but a mask blocked nearly all of them. pic.twitter.com/8wDdvIHHMa — Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫 (@richdavisphd) June 26, 2020 Through his demonstration, Davis explained how easily one can prevent the spread of Covid-19 by putting on a mask. I'm aware that this simple (n=1) demo isn't how you culture viruses or model spread of SARS-CoV-2. But colonies of normal bacteria from my mouth/throat show the spread of large respiratory droplets, like the kind we think mostly spread #COVID19, and how a mask can block them! pic.twitter.com/16azsiIbZd — Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS 🦠🔬🧫 (@richdavisphd) June 26, 2020 Since being shared online, the post has gone viral and prompted many reactions among netizens with many thanking Davis for the demonstration. Great Demo of the importance of distancing and wearing a face covering! Good job @richdavisphd ! — West Valley MVCD (@westvalleymvcd) July 2, 2020 Wear a mask. — Amy (@lameyknox) July 2, 2020 Clear as a whistle. Oops. should not do that! Everyone: wear masks, please #protectyouremployees @aristarservices — CarmenMAlvarez (@camalsa) July 2, 2020 As Batman said, "I wear a mask to protect the people closest to me." Physically and figuratively. — The Davies Project (@Davies_Project) July 2, 2020 So weird that this isn't common sense.so frustrating that it has to be explained 97 different ways and still.here we are still arguing — Timmy Reading (@reading_timmy) July 2, 2020 Simple test - mask vs no mask — Jamie Sandford (@jsandford) July 2, 2020 I really can’t believe that people want to deny research constantly and that we still have to share this stuff but hey, read this! Share it! Wear a mask and don’t be a butthead☺️ — fullflege (@rachelleflege69) July 2, 2020
