and last updated 2021-02-11 09:07:10-05 TAMPA â Thereâs been a lot of talk about double masking recently. Thatâs because of the new COVID-19 strains that researchers say are much more contagious. âWe think thatâs because they replicate faster meaning theyâre more viral particles in an individual and they can gain access to our cells a little more readily,â said Dr. Marissa Levine, Professor of Public Health Practice at the University of South Florida. Doctors say the questions we now have to ask are, what do we do to protect ourselves from these new variants, and are our traditional measures enough?