Contrary to the earlier controversy that weather to use a mask or not does not matter, but now scientist have made a U-turn, saying the use of face mask will go a long way in slowing down the processes of contracting the coronavirus, therefore advised to use it when available.
This advice was rolled out in their recent report in Science Magazine. People in Asian countries have been using a face mask for months which the head of the Chinese Centre for Disease and Prevention supports.
Especially in the US, the face masks were nearly out of circulation prompting the government to preserve some for the healthcare professionals.
The statement, “This virus is transmitted by droplets and close contact.
Droplets play a very important role —you’ve got to wear a mask because when you speak, there are always droplets coming out of your mouth,” the Chinese Centre’s George Gao told the magazine.
“Many people have asymptomatic or presymptomatic infections.
If they are wearing face masks, it can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others,” he said.
KK Cheng, a public health expert at the University of Birmingham in the UK, put it bluntly:
“It’s not to protect yourself alone.
It’s to protect people against the droplets coming out of your respiratory tract…
I don’t want to frighten you, but when people speak and breathe and sing —you don’t have to sneeze or cough — these droplets are coming out,” he said.
Aside from slowing down the spread of the dreaded virus, few researchers posited that the mask can help prevent people from getting it as well.
The report further revealed that it does not make sense to imagine that surgical masks are really important for health care workers alone but for the generality of the public safety, said Benjamin Cowling, an Epidemiology expert at the University of Hong Kong.
He said, “I think the average person if they were taught how to wear a mask properly … would have some protection against infection in the community.”
Meanwhile, according to Cheng, who posited that “imagine travelling in the New York City subway on a busy morning. If everyone wears a mask, I am sure it would reduce the transmission’
