Have you wondered just how face masks work to help stop the spread of COVID-19? This video shows how easily germs can spread when someone is not wearing a mask, compared with someone who is wearing a mask.

Rebecca Fisher, Ph.D., scientific director for education outreach at Ochsner Health, demonstrates in this experiment just how effective masks are in preventing droplets from spreading. In the experiment, Dr. Fisher talks, sneezes and coughs on to plates to capture respiratory droplets that contain bacteria. She did a version of the experiments while wearing a mask, and while not wearing a mask.

Later, Dr. Fisher shows the plates with bacteria growing on them from the version of the experiment she conducted while not wearing a mask. Yuck! Watch the full experiment.