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To mask or not to mask?

Experts have been divided over whether or not face masks are effective against the coronavirus.

The consensus seemed to be that the N95 mask, which is a Centre for Disease Control-approved model worn when working with infectious patients, is your best bet if you don’t want to catch the virus.

It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to get your hands on one of those, and regardless, they should be reserved for healthcare practitioners.

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize agrees – surgical masks and especially N95 mask are in short supply because the pandemic is global and in many countries, healthcare facilities are stretched to their limits.

At a briefing on Friday, Mkhize also provided some much-needed direction on whether the increasingly popular DIY cloth masks should be worn.

Here’s Dr Kerrin Begg, a Public Health Medicine Specialist at Stellenbosch University, via City Press:

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has recommended that members of the public wear cloth face masks of at least three layers.

…In South Africa to date, the messaging has until now been consistent with the World Health Organisation recommendation that the only people who needed to wear face masks, outside the healthcare setting, were people who were ill or those who were treating them.

This is still true, but not all carriers of the coronavirus are symptomatic, and people can be infectious before becoming symptomatic. If everyone wears a mask, the theory is that we could stem the spread of the virus.

It’s important to note that if you don’t use and/or dispose of your mask properly, it could increase the spread of the coronavirus. At the same time, if South Africans follow the guidelines and use fabric masks safely, this could help to slow it down.

Dr Begg outlined the findings of studies in the effectiveness of masks:

The evidence for “my mask protects me”

• In the laboratory setting, all types of masks reduced aerosol exposure to a simulated infectious agent, with N95 respirators more efficient than surgical masks, which were more efficient than home-made masks.

• In the community setting, three cluster randomized trials evaluated the effectiveness of medical masks versus no masks for protecting wearers from acquiring influenza-like infection. Together these trials provide evidence of low certainty that medical masks may reduce the chance of infection by 8% compared to no masks.

The evidence for “my mask protects you, your mask protects me”

• In the laboratory setting, a recent study involving 246 patients demonstrated that face masks significantly reduced the detection of Sars-CoV-2 in the exhaled breath of Covid-19 patients.

• In the household setting, four cluster trials evaluated the effectiveness of medical masks versus no masks for protecting household members from acquiring infection from a household member who was ill with confirmed influenza-like illness. Together these trials provide low certainty evidence that medical masks may reduce the chance of infection by 12% compared to no masks.

This shows that there is “low certainty evidence” that using face masks can reduce the chance of infection and/or community transmission. In other words, a face mask could help, but there isn’t definitive proof that it’s 100% effective.

For more from Begg, head here.

If you’d like to make your own mask, here’s a step-by-step guide. 

Stay safe, and stay home, as much as possible.

Physical distancing is still the most effective way to prevent transmission.

[source:citypress]