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Abolishing the obligation of masks raises one very sucking question

If from Tuesday we no longer need masks, why did we use them another month ago?

We checked with Dr. Yoav Yehezkeli from Tel Aviv University if the masks could be given up quietly, and if they really ever benefited us.

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• Masks

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• Corona

Walla!

health

Friday, June 11, 2021, 00:00

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Starting this coming Tuesday we will no longer have to wear masks indoors, after many months in which they have become an integral part of our routine.

Is it really safe to give up these protective measures now, and will we still need them in certain situations?

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To the full article

According to Dr. Yoav Yehezkeli, an expert in internal medicine and medical administration from the Emergency and Disaster Management Program at Tel Aviv University, the abolition of the obligation to wear masks is a welcome step that would have been better taken earlier. ".

So why have we even used masks so far?

Dr. Yehezkeli explains that face masks have two completely different roles. The first is the prevention of infection of the person wearing the mask, this goal is achieved by using improved masks (mainly N95) and is intended for medical professionals who treat patients with infectious disease. He adds that the effectiveness Of the simple masks in protecting the wearer is only 50-75 percent, so they are not used for this purpose.

There's no point in that.

A woman wearing a mask at the beach (Photo: ShutterStock)

The second purpose is to prevent infection from the person wearing the mask to others.

This is the familiar use of simple masks by the general public.

The mask stops coarse drops emitted from the airways into the air and can infect people who are near the patient within a range of up to 2 meters.

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The source of the use of masks in the general public for protection against respiratory diseases is in the East.

Dr. Yehezkeli explains that "there is biological logic to this step when it comes to staying in enclosed and crowded spaces, and when there is a risk of infection from people who have no symptoms of illness, assuming that people with signs of illness stay at home."

"There has never been a professional justification for this"

In the first months of the corona epidemic, there was concern that people without disease symptoms were contagious, but "over time it became clear that asymptomatic infection could only occur a day or two before the onset of disease symptoms, which to some extent even drops the ground beneath this logic," says Dr. Yehezkeli

said that open-air adhesion is very rare, as air movement quickly dilutes the infectious particles, and therefore wearing a mask in open spaces has never been a professional justification. "However, many studies have failed to prove the usefulness of masks in preventing adhesion, even indoors." , He adds, "most infections with corona disease occurred inside homes, places where family members did not wear masks anyway."

We could have given up the masks much earlier.

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein wears a mask (Photo: Flash 90, Jonathan Zindel)

"Wearing masks in the open air has never been a medical reason. In the midst of the epidemic, there is reason to wonder why this step was taken in the first place: Is it to root out the fear of the virus in the public? Is it to control behavior," adds Dr. Yehezkeli. This and its enforcement.

"" With regard to enclosed spaces, although there is no proof of its usefulness, it would have been reasonable to accept such a step as a precaution in the conditions of a severe mass epidemic.

"When the corona epidemic in the country subsided about two months ago, this obligation could have been abolished a long time ago," he concludes.

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