Larner College of Medicine News & Media

Annie Lab Notes Gilman Debunking of Misleading Face Mask Tweet

January 25, 2023 by Lucy Gardner Carson

(JANUARY 25, 2023) In an article published by the Annie Lab newsroom, Gilman Allen, M.D., professor of medicine, disputed a claim in a January 2023 Twitter video highlighting findings from a “brand-new” Japanese study demonstrating that “masking breeds dangerous bacteria and fungi” and therefore justifies ending mandatory mask wearing.

Gilman Allen, M.D.

(JANUARY 25, 2023) An article posted by the Annie Lab, a fact-checking project at the Journalism & Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong, reports on a claim in a January 2023 Twitter video highlighting findings from a “brand-new” Japanese study demonstrating that “masking breeds dangerous bacteria and fungi” and therefore justifies ending mandatory mask wearing. Gilman Allen, M.D., a UVM professor of medicine and pulmonologist and critical care physician, disputes the study in the article, saying, “It is also not true that N95 masks do not filter particles smaller than 0.3 microns. They can and do,” Allen said.

Read full story at Annie Lab Newsroom