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What are the most effective methods to prevent transmission of the new coronavirus?

2020-06-04T21:07:54.777Z


After half a year of living with the pandemic we have seen the appearance of products such as glasses, visors or face screens or different types of face masks, all to protect yourself from a possible ...


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(CNN Spanish) - After half a year of living with the pandemic we have seen the appearance of products such as glasses, visors or face screens or different types of face masks, all to protect themselves from a possible spread of coronavirus.

But are they really effective in protecting us from the virus? Dr. Elmer Huerta analyzes it in this episode and comments on research published in the scientific journal The Lancet, which studies the impact of masks or chinstraps.

You can listen to this episode on Spotify or your favorite podcast platform or read the transcript below.

Hello, I am Dr. Elmer Huerta and this is your daily dose of information about the new coronavirus, information that we hope will be useful to take care of your health and that of your family. Today we will see what are the most effective methods to avoid the transmission of the new coronavirus.

At the time of writing this episode, it has been 155 days since it was announced that a rare new disease had been discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Eleven days later, Chinese scientists identified the virus causing the disease, put its genome on the Internet, and then investigated how it spread.

Over the years, we learned that the virus was spread from person to person and by the respiratory route, and that, although it has been found in faeces and semen, there is no evidence that the disease is transmitted through the mouth or through sexual intercourse.

With this knowledge, it was learned that the spread of the virus could be avoided by doing three important things: wearing a mask, wearing glasses, visors or face shields (especially health workers) and practicing social distancing of at least 2 meters between two people .

Obviously, hand washing and house and home hygiene are also very important measures to prevent transmission of the virus.

But, while it is instinctive that masks, glasses, and social distancing can be important protective measures, what is their true contribution to preventing the spread of the new coronavirus?

A study, published on June 1, 2020 in The Lancet, accurately measures the impact that face masks, glasses, or other eye protection and social distancing have had on preventing covid-19 infection.

It is the most comprehensive study to date on this topic. Researchers of various nationalities, belonging to the covid-19 urgent systematic review initiative, made a statistical analysis of 172 scientific studies published in 16 countries on six continents on the subject (that in science is called meta-analysis or study of studies).

In addition to studying the impact of the use of masks, glasses and social distancing in the prevention of the new coronavirus, the research also included the use of these modalities in the prevention of SARS and MERS, diseases caused by previous viruses of the corona family. .

What they found was that virus transmission was less if two people were separated by at least a meter, and that this protection increased as the distance between people increased.

On the other hand, the use of masks also showed a great reduction in the risk of infection. The N95 type or respirators (used by health professionals) are more effective than the disposable or reusable cotton surgical masks that we use in daily life.

Finally, eye protection was also associated with a lower risk of infection.

There is no doubt, then, that these findings reinforce the existing knowledge regarding the prevention of infection by the new coronavirus.

Knowing that this is a virus whose main route of transmission is the proximity of two human beings who spread the virus among themselves, this study reaffirms that the protection offered by masks, glasses and a distance of more than one meter is very important. .

Until we find an effective drug or vaccine, these simple measures are the main way to fight infection with the new coronavirus.

Send me your questions on Twitter, we will try to answer them in our next episodes. You can find me at @DrHuerta.

If you think this podcast is useful, please help others find it by rating and reviewing it in your favorite podcast app. We'll be back tomorrow so be sure to subscribe to get the latest episode on your account.

And for the most up-to-date information, you can always go to CNNEspanol.com. Thanks for your attention.

If you have any questions, you can send them to Dr. Elmer Huerta on Twitter. You can also go to CNNE.com/coronaviruspodcast for all the episodes of our podcast “Coronavirus: Reality vs. fiction".

coronavirus

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-06-04

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