Figure 2
From: Bacterial and fungal isolation from face masks under the COVID-19 pandemic
Survey results of the mask usage and microbe colony counts on the face-side and outer-side of the face masks. (a) Usage of non-woven masks and other mask types (others) among male and female participants (n = 109). Most “others” were polyurethane masks except a few gauze or cloth masks. (b) Duration of usage in non-woven, other mask types, and total (non-woven and others combined). The percentage of “others” wearing the same masks for two days or more (58%) was significantly higher than that of non-woven mask users (25%, P < 0.001). (c) Duration of mask usage in each gender (no significant difference). (d,e) Bacteria (d) and fungi (e) on the face-side and outer-side masks were cultured separately after pressing each mask surface onto agar plates. Microbial colony counts/plate (left panels); in boxplots, the cross symbols, bars, and dots indicate the mean, median, and outliers, respectively. Microbial colony counts on the face-side (middle panels) and outer-side (right panels) were compared based on the mask types and duration of mask usage. Mean + standard error of the mean (SEM). The paired t-test and Student’s t-test were used for statistical analyses. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.001.
