#Newspaper
DELVE group publishes evidence paper on the use of face masks in tackling Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
//Venki Ramakrishnan, Chair of the DELVE committee said; “While social distancing and maintaining hygiene, such as washing hands, remain of prime importance to reducing transmission, the evidence shows that, if used widely and correctly, face masks, including home-made cloth masks, can help to reduce viral transmission in situations where social distancing is difficult to maintain consistently. Such situations include busy public transport, shopping and other potentially crowded public or workspaces.
//“Many people may have the virus before symptoms kick in and some people will carry the virus without even knowing it. Every time they cough, sneeze, talk or even breathe, they are spreading droplets containing the virus. Covering your face can reduce the risk of infecting others but we emphasise that this is an added tool to bring down the infection rate, and not a replacement for handwashing and social distancing.”
//Key points in the paper include:
//DELVE’s report states that the evidence supports the conclusion that widespread face mask adoption in situations where social distancing is difficult to maintain consistently can help to control the Covid-19 epidemic by reducing the shedding of droplets into the environment from asymptomatic individuals. This is consistent with the experiences of countries that have adopted it.
Full article: The Royal Society, (4 May)
#Masks #Coronavirus #DELVE
DELVE group publishes evidence paper on the use of face masks in tackling Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
//Venki Ramakrishnan, Chair of the DELVE committee said; “While social distancing and maintaining hygiene, such as washing hands, remain of prime importance to reducing transmission, the evidence shows that, if used widely and correctly, face masks, including home-made cloth masks, can help to reduce viral transmission in situations where social distancing is difficult to maintain consistently. Such situations include busy public transport, shopping and other potentially crowded public or workspaces.
//“Many people may have the virus before symptoms kick in and some people will carry the virus without even knowing it. Every time they cough, sneeze, talk or even breathe, they are spreading droplets containing the virus. Covering your face can reduce the risk of infecting others but we emphasise that this is an added tool to bring down the infection rate, and not a replacement for handwashing and social distancing.”
//Key points in the paper include:
• Asymptomatic (including presymptomatic) infected individuals are infectious. Without mitigation, the current estimate is that 40%-80% of infections occur from individuals without symptoms. • Droplets from infected individuals are a major mode of transmission. Droplets do not only come from coughing or sneezing: in a/presymptomatic individuals, droplets are generated via talking and breathing. • Face masks reduce droplet dispersal. Cloth-based face masks reduce emission of particles by variable amounts//DELVE’s report states that the evidence supports the conclusion that widespread face mask adoption in situations where social distancing is difficult to maintain consistently can help to control the Covid-19 epidemic by reducing the shedding of droplets into the environment from asymptomatic individuals. This is consistent with the experiences of countries that have adopted it.
Full article: The Royal Society, (4 May)
#Masks #Coronavirus #DELVE
royalsociety.org
DELVE group publishes evidence paper on the use of face masks in tackling Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic | Royal Society
Face masks could offer an important tool for contributing to the management of community transmission of Covid-19 within the general population.