Dr Whitney Curry has done an experiment to show you how face coverings can help stop the spread of Covid-19. pic.twitter.com/DZjqopbZ1c

— @cornwallcouncil (@CornwallCouncil) March 12, 2021

A public health expert has warned that thin, stretchy face coverings like snoods are not a good replacement for face masks in the fight against Covid-19 infection.

Whitney Curry, advanced public health practitioner for Cornwall Council, demonstrated in a video how ineffective some people’s choice of face coverings are for stopping the spread of infection.

Using a happy birthday candle, Dr Curry blew it out without wearing any covering to show how easy air can travel without any mask on. She then pulled out a snood and said: “My least favourite is this one, I see lots of people wear it, this sort-of snood thing.

“It is... a very stretchy, very thin amount of material that I see lots of people at the school pick-up wearing. Watch my candle and see what happens.”

She very nearly blew the candle out again, with the snood only restricting the amount of air she could get at it by a small amount.

“You see how much air… how much that candle’s affected?” Dr Curry asked. “It’s not blowing it out, but you can see there is air coming out.”

Moving to the typical blue and white disposable face coverings, Dr Curry showed the correct way to put one on, by pinching her nose and pulling it under her chin. Attempting to blow the candle out again, she was unable to with the blue mask on.

“Let’s see the difference,” she said. “I haven’t moved, my candle hasn’t moved and I’m still going to blow. And you can see just how effective that is. I’m blowing really hard and that flame isn’t moving.

“There’s a lot of protection that you’re getting from one of these and there’s two layers.”

Pulling out a three-layered, dark blue reusable mask, Dr Curry said: “I’ve got one of these homemade masks here, that’s three layers and that’s recommended by the WHO (World Health Organisation), at least two is what the UK recommends.

“Nice and snug,” Dr Curry said, and failed once again to blow the candle out - not even moving it a little bit.

“I’m really huffing, but again that flame is not moving and you can see the flow of air which carries particles in it and could potentially carry particles of Covid with it.