CVCH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Malcolm Butler Says Masks “Next Best Thing to Vaccine”

As scientists learn more about COVID-19, it is changing the way health experts recommend preventing the disease.

CVCH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Malcolm Butler says he knows that can be frustrating, but they now understand it's about preventing droplets being expelled via breathing, talking, singing, etc.

"Masks, even cloth masks, retain those big droplets and those nasty medium-sized droplets. The only droplets that can get through a mask are the small droplets and remember those small droplets don't contain much virus so they're not very infectious."

That is more of a concern when people are gathered indoors, with Dr. Butler saying it's not as problematic when you're outside.

He called masks the next best thing to a vaccine with some similarities to the flu in that it's carried in droplets.

"COVID is also about droplets but now we know it's about the droplets that remain floating in the air, the air that we share."

He noted that areas with major infections saw positive cases flatten or drop once masking was required.

You can hear the full interview and explanation with Dr. Butler below: