Don't Throw Away Your Gaiters

I did a double take when I saw a recent headline in The Washington Post saying that gaiters may do more harm than good when it comes to stopping the spread of Covid-19. A gaiter (which you may know better under the brand name Buff) is a tube of fabric worn around the neck. They can be a bit more convenient than a regular mask to pull off and on during a workout, so a lot of runners have been using them as face coverings for protection against the coronavirus.

Fortunately, as Tara Parker-Pope wrote in The Times, “the reports of the demise of the neck gaiter have been greatly exaggerated.”

The study under discussion, from Duke University, looked at all different kinds of face masks and measured how many droplets of saliva made it through each one. When researchers tested a gaiter, they found more droplets than if the person was wearing no face covering at all.
But don’t toss out your gaiter just yet.

First, the study was done with one person, and one gaiter. That’s an exceptionally small sample. And second, the way they did the measurements, with a phone camera and lasers, “was not a reliable way to measure particles, and it was not a statistically meaningful finding,” Parker-Pope wrote.

Even the authors of the study said people are drawing too much from it. “Our intent was not to say this mask doesn’t work, or never use neck gaiters,” said Martin Fischer, an associate research professor in the department of chemistry at Duke University and a co-author of the study. “This was not the main part of the paper.”

Also, researchers from Virginia Tech did a gaiter study and found that gaiters “perform similarly to cloth masks and very well if doubled over.”

 

So when I ran a trail race on Sunday — yes! A real live race, in person, with other people — I wore a gaiter.

Because the race was so small (139 people in a 15K), and I was by myself much of the time, I ran most of it with the gaiter around my neck, which the race director allowed. We had to wear masks only at packet pickup, at the start line, and when we were passed or passing other people.

My general approach to running and masks right now is mainly just avoiding other people. I live in a small suburb and run very early in the morning, in places where there aren’t usually any other people. I carry a mask or bandanna to put on when I see someone else and can’t cross the street.

It’s not perfect, I know. I don’t know if perfect exists when it comes to covering your mouth and nose while running. But we’ve been in this long enough that we have a ton of options when it comes to masks for general wear. Try a variety to see what works best for you when you’re out exercising.

Wirecutter rounded up the best cloth masks for general use. I’m partial to masks I got at Old Navy, and the Avengers ones my mom made for everyone in my family (unfortunately for you, not for sale). And if you have children who are going back to in-person school and need to wear masks, here are tips on helping them adjust.

Run Well!

Jen A. Miller

(from the New York Times RUnning, Aug. 22, 2020)