More evidence here
Two new reports published on face coverings.
The first presents mounting evidence for the effectiveness of wearing face coverings in reducing the risk of transmission and presents new evidence suggesting that face coverings could also provide protection to the wearer. Authored by Paul Edelstein, Emeritus Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Lalita Ramakrishan, Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, University of Cambridge, it is an update onan earlier report from Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics (DELVE), a multi-disciplinary group convened by the Royal Society.
The second report, by the Royal Society’sSET-C (Science in Emergencies Tasking – COVID-19)group and published jointly by the British Academy and the Royal Society, looks at the effectiveness of different face mask types and coverings and isolates behavioural factors that have limited adherence such as public understanding of the virus transmission, risk perception, trust, effectiveness of public messages and perceived barriers to wearing a mask.
Paul Edelstein, Emeritus Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, said: “The evidence for the benefit of wearing face coverings in protecting others from infection is becoming clearer all the time. In fact, we have now identified convincing decades-old and apparently forgotten evidence, from the time when surgical masks were made of cloth and were reusable, showing that they help to prevent transmission of airborne infectious agents. There is now even some evidence that masks might directly benefit the wearer. The basics are simple to understand. There are people without symptoms going about their daily business who are unknowingly breathing out droplets that are carrying the virus. If they had their faces covered the majority of those droplets would be caught before they can infect other people. Wearing face coverings can help save lives and prevent disabling illnesses.”
The DELVE report also looks at evidence for alternatives for those individuals and communities who/that cannot use masks, e.g. deaf people and individuals with breathing disorders.
The SET-C report highlights how far the UK is trailing behind other countries in terms of policy implementation and wearing face coverings. In late April uptake in the UK was around 25%, compared to 83.4% in Italy, 65.8% in the United States and 63.8% in Spain. All countries, that like the UK, do not have an established culture of face mask wearing, but did have clearly mandated policies.
Melinda Mills, Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science at the University of Oxford and lead author on the SET-C report said: “To understand why people don’t wear face coverings it is essential to examine behavioural factors such as the public’s understanding about masks and how to wear and re-use cloth coverings. What is clear is that it isn’t the public’s fault for not wearing masks in the UK. Rather, consistent policies and effective public messaging is vital, which have even differed across England, Scotland and Wales. We have seen that people in countries like Italy, the US and Spain, without a previous history of mask wearing, have rapidly adopted face coverings during the COVID-19 period largely because the authorities provided them with a consistent policy and clear guidelines to understand why they should wear them.”
In response to the use of nonmedical, homemade cloth masks, both reports take a closer look at their effectiveness in decreasing the risk of transmission of the virus and conclude they have an important role to play. The SET-C report takes a deeper look, assessing the effectiveness of different types of fabrics over others in cloth masks, how face masks and coverings form part of interrelated policy packages and how the UK compares internationally in adoption of policies and mask wearing.
Last month both the World Health Organisation and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States issued updated guidance recommending that everyone wear face masks in public areas where there is a risk of transmission of COVID-19, to help reduce the spread of the disease. Direct people to people spread is the most common way of getting COVID-19. Masks have an important role to play in preventing the spread of infection, along with physical distancing whenever possible, hand washing and cleaning of surfaces that will be touched by people.
The DELVE report,Face Masks for the General Public – an Update, isavailable on github
rs-delve.github.io/addenda/2020/07/07/masks-update.html
The SET-C report,Face masks and coverings for the general public: Behavioural knowledge, effectiveness of cloth coverings and public messaging (PDF), is available to download.
royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/set-c/set-c-facemasks.pdf?la=en-GB&hash=A22A87CB28F7D6AD9BD93BBCBFC2BB24