Name: Widespread mask-wearing could prevent covid-19 second waves, study says
Brand: washingtonpost.com
SKU: washingtonpost-com-324
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Widespread mask-wearing could prevent covid-19 second waves, study says

preview

This article was published more than&nbsp;2 years agoCommentGift SharePopulation-wide face mask use could push covid-19 transmission down to controllable levels for national epidemics, and could prevent further waves of the pandemic disease when combined with lockdowns, according to a British study last week.The research, led by scientists at Britain’s Cambridge and Greenwich universities, suggests lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of the new coronavirus which causes covid-19, but that even homemade masks can dramatically reduce transmission rates if enough people wear them in public.“Our analyses support the immediate and universal adoption of face masks by the public,” said Richard Stutt, who co-led the study at Cambridge.He said combining widespread mask use with social distancing and some lockdown measures could be “an acceptable way of managing the pandemic and reopening economic activity” before the development of an effective vaccine against covid-19.AdvertisementThe study’s findings were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A, a scientific journal.At the onset of the pandemic last winter, scientific evidence on the effectiveness of face masks in slowing transmission of respiratory diseases was limited, and there was no data on covid-19 since it was a previously unknown disease.But, prompted by some new research in recent weeks, the World Health Organization said June 5 that it now recommends that everyone wear fabric face masks in public to try to reduce disease spread.In this study, researchers linked the dynamics of spread between people with population-level models to assess the effect on the disease’s reproduction rate, or R value, of different scenarios of mask adoption combined with periods of lockdown.The R value measures the average number of people that one infected person will pass the disease on to. An R value above 1 can lead to exponential growth.AdvertisementThe study found that if people wear masks whenever they are in public it is twice as effective at reducing the R value than if masks are only worn after symptoms appear.In all scenarios the study looked at, routine face mask use by 50 percent or more of the population reduced covid-19 spread to an R of less than 1.0, flattening future disease waves and allowing for less stringent lockdowns.Experts not directly involved in the latest British study were divided over its conclusions.Brooks Pollock, a Bristol University infectious-disease modeling expert, said the likely impact of masks could be much smaller than predicted. Trish Greenhalgh, an Oxford University professor, said the findings were encouraging and suggested masks “are likely to be an effective population measure.”— ReutersCommentsGift ArticleTOP STORIESRecommended RecipesLooking for inspiration? Try these recipes to prepare dishes with confidence.Try a different topic or to save your preferences

This article was published more than&nbsp;2 years agoCommentGift SharePopulation-wide face mask use could push covid-19 transmission down to controllable levels for national epidemics, and could prevent further waves of the pandemic disease when combined with lockdowns, according to a British study last week.The research, led by scientists at Britain’s Cambridge and Greenwich universities, suggests lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of the new coronavirus which causes covid-19, but that even homemade masks can dramatically reduce transmission rates if enough people wear them in...

public

Kate Kelland

washingtonpost.com

Credible

Speculation

Anecdotal Evidence

Generalization

Stacking the Deck

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Slippery Slope

Emotional Appeal

Red Herring

False Dilemma

Illogical

Moral Equivalency

Ad Hominem

Correlation w/o Causation

Semantics

Begging the Question

Faulty Analogy

Non Sequitur

Bandwagon

Dogmatism

Failing Occam's Razor

Biased

Pure Opinion

Hit Piece

Racial Bias

National Bias

Religious Bias

Financial Incentive

Political Agenda

Gender Bias

Misused Image/Video

Study Misinterpreted

Mistake

Misused Term

Science Misrepresented

Factual Error

Satire

Surface Level

Lack of Reliable Sources

Sensational

Not Credible

Investigative

Balanced

Well Sourced

Great Context

sports

entertainment

U.S.

international

business

technology

science

culture

politics

media

health

Widespread mask-wearing could prevent covid-19 second waves, study says

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS