During the active moments of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020 and early-2021, populations across the globe followed the adherence from public health officials, wearing face masks to prevent contagion.
A recent study released in the journal Science by German experts at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry confirms the issuance of measures recommended by public health officials regarding face masks to lessen the risk of contagion.
“Face masks are a well-established preventive measure, but their effectiveness for mitigating SARS-CoV-2 transmission is still under debate,” the study explained.
“We show that variations in mask efficacy can be explained by different regimes of virus abundance and related to population-average infection probability and reproduction number.”
The study showed that face masks are particularly effective at preventing infection when used in combination with other measures, including social distancing.
“More advanced masks and other protective equipment are required in potentially virus-rich indoor environments including medical centers and hospitals. Masks are particularly effective in combination with other preventive measures like ventilation and distancing,” researchers concluded in their journal report.
