Multiple new studies underscore what health experts have maintained since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Latest studies published this month support the fact that wearing masks is an effective way to curb the transmission of the coronavirus. Researchers have also stressed the need for preventative measures like social distancing, personal protective equipment, and enhanced hygiene.
A review and meta-analysis funded by the World Health Organization and published in a renowned medical journal The Lancet examined data from 172 studies from 16 countries and six continents.
As the gold standard in medical science -a randomized, double-blinded controlled trial- is impossible to conduct in a pandemic, so researchers have turned to other analyses. Reviews such as the Lancet report compiled data from many smaller reports to synthesize those findings.
According to The Lancet review, it's said that without using a face mask, the risk of transmitting COVID-19 is 17.4%. With an N95 respirator or face mask, that number drops to 3.1%. The review's authors wrote:
"Our findings continued to support the ideas not only that masks, in general, are associated with a large reduction in risk of infection from SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV but also that N95 or similar respirators might be associated with a larger degree of protection from viral infection than disposable medical masks or reusable multilayer (12–16-layer) cotton masks."
Similarly, maintaining a distance of 3-6 feet from others reduces the infection rate significantly from 12.8% to 2.6%. The study tells:
"The main benefit of physical distancing measures is to prevent onward transmission and, thereby, reduce the adverse outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Hence, the results of our current review support the implementation of a policy of physical distancing of at least 1m and, if possible, 2m or more."
Several pieces of research tell us the ways in which virus spreads. Though much about the transmission of the virus is still not known, healthcare officials and experts have consensus on the matter that the virus typically spreads via droplets from a patient's coughs, sneezes, or speech. Another possibility is viral transmission via an asymptomatic COVID patient. So using face masks makes sense big time and it's quite understandable why the importance of masks is so immense in containing the virus.
According to the World Health Organization: "The use of a mask alone is insufficient to provide an adequate level of protection or source control, and other personal and community level measures should also be adopted to suppress transmission of respiratory viruses. Whether or not masks are used, compliance with hand hygiene, physical distancing, and other infection prevention and control measures are critical to prevent human-to-human transmission of COVID-19." It must be remembered that face masks only appear to be effective when supplemented with hand-washing and physical distancing. These studies also confirm that the nations which have contained the virus successfully e.g. South Korea, China, New Zealand, Taiwan, etc are the ones that adapted swiftly to changing circumstances and made social distancing and using masks mandatory early in the pandemic.
