The sight may seem unusual or even grotesque at first: the wearing combination of a cloth mask over a surgical mask.
In the USA in particular, word of the “double mask” got around.
Not least because well-known personalities such as US President Joe Biden and his most important scientific advisor in the pandemic, immunologist Anthony Fauci, rely on it.
There is also a corresponding study from the USA that suggests that the double mask makes sense.
In Germany, the focus is mainly on FFP2 masks, which have been mandatory in shops and in local public transport for a few weeks - but the regulation also includes surgical masks. The double mask is hardly an issue in German research - in contrast to the USA.