FFP2 surprise: study shows explosive difference for protection against omicron versus delta

Created: 01/18/2022Updated: 01/18/2022 05:32

By: Richard Strobl

A sign at the main train station in Leipzig indicates that an FFP2 mask should be worn.

The railway refers to the country-specific corona regulations of the individual federal states.

© Hendrik Schmidt/dpa

The omicron variant of the corona virus is considered to be significantly more contagious.

But according to a study, FFP2 masks protect better against the new mutation than against Delta, for example.

Göttingen - The omicron wave has now also reached Germany.

The number of infections is skyrocketing and the incidence is also increasing rapidly.

This is mainly due to the fact that the new corona variant is significantly more contagious than the previously dominant delta mutant.

The study results of the Max Planck Institute on the protective effect of FFP2 masks at Omikron are all the more surprising.

Corona protection through FFP2 mask: Study data are clear

FFP2 masks have long been considered an effective way to prevent infection with the corona virus.

Accordingly, politicians have imposed a mask requirement in many places.

In December, the Max Planck Institute underpinned this step with a study.

If an infected and a non-infected person both wear well-fitting FFP2 or KN95 masks when they meet, “the maximum risk of infection after 20 minutes, even at the shortest distance, is hardly more than one per thousand,” says the study.

If the masks don't fit properly - i.e. if more air flows past the mask, the probability of infection increases to around four percent.

In the case of surgical masks, the probability in the same scenario is ten percent.

Omicron protection by FFP2 mask: Surprising study from Germany

A team from the Max Planck Institute led by Mohsen Bagheri has now expanded the results from December in a study and made a comparison between the omicron and delta variants.

The surprising finding: The risk is lower at Omikron than at Delta - if everyone wears mouth and nose protection.

But Bagheri also makes it clear that the risk of infection is not zero in this case either.

In their calculations, the researchers assumed that omicron is three times more contagious than the delta variant and occurs mainly in the upper respiratory tract.

The latter had previously been suggested by other studies.