Story at a glance
- Researchers found that if people wear masks in public it is twice as effective at reducing the reproduction rate of the disease than if masks are only worn after symptoms appear.
- The study found that in all modeling scenarios, routine face mask use by 50 percent or more of the population reduced COVID-19 spread to a reproduction rate of less than one, flattening future disease waves and allowing for less-stringent lockdowns.
- Both the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise people to wear masks in public when social distancing is not possible.
A new study released this week from Britain’s Cambridge and Greenwich universities found communitywide use of face masks combined with social distancing could prevent second waves of the coronavirus, Reuters reports.
Researchers behind the study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A said lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of the coronavirus, and even homemade masks with limited effectiveness can dramatically reduce transmission rates if worn by enough people.
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The study used mathematical models to analyze how different combinations of mask use and periods of lockdown affected the disease’s reproduction rate, also known as the R value. The R value measures the average number of people that one infected person will pass the disease on to. An R value above one can lead to exponential growth.
For the virus to slow its spread the R value must stay below one, researchers said.
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The study found that if people wear masks in public it is twice as effective at reducing the reproduction rate of the disease than if masks are only worn after symptoms appear.
In all of the study’s modeling scenarios, routine face mask use by 50 percent or more of the population reduced COVID-19 spread to a reproduction rate of less than one, flattening future disease waves and allowing for less restrictive lockdowns.
The research also suggests if an entire population wore masks that were 75 percent effective it could bring a high R number of four to below one, even without lockdowns.
“Our analyses support the immediate and universal adoption of face masks by the public,” lead author Richard Stutt said in a statement.
“If widespread face mask use by the public is combined with physical distancing and some lockdown, it may offer an acceptable way of managing the pandemic and reopening economic activity long before there is a working vaccine,” Stutt said.
The research comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) last week changed course on its recommendations for the use of masks, advising that people should wear face coverings in public when they are unable to practice social distancing. It was a reversal for the agency that said at the beginning of the outbreak healthy people did not need to wear masks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidance in April recommending people wear masks or face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
The U.S. surpassed 2 million cases Thursday, and a surge in new infections is occurring in at least 20 states.
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