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Recommendations for the use of masks in the summer 1:28
(CNN) - Airborne transmission is the main way the new coronavirus spreads, and wearing a mask is the most effective way to stop the spread from person to person, according to a new study by a team of researchers in Texas and California.
The researchers, led by Renyi Zhang from the Texas A&M University Department of Atmospheric Sciences, compared trends in the rate of covid-19 infection in Italy and New York before and after face masks were required. Both locations began to see infection rates flatten only after mandatory mask measures were implemented.
They calculated that the use of face masks prevented more than 78,000 infections in Italy between April 6 and May 9, and more than 66,000 infections in New York City between April 17 and May 9.
Wearing masks: solidarity or selfishness? 2:43"Wearing face masks in public is the most effective means of preventing interhuman transmission, and this economic practice, along with simultaneous social distancing, quarantine, and contact tracing, represents the most likely fighting opportunity to stop the pandemic. covid-19, ”they wrote in a report published Thursday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers conducted their analysis to assess the effectiveness of different strategies in stopping the spread of the infection and to determine how the virus is primarily transmitted. Viruses can be spread by direct contact when one person coughs or sneezes another person; indirect contact, when a person coughs or sneezes on an object that is then touched by another person; or in the air through large drops that quickly fall to the ground and small drops, called aerosols, that can travel several feet and hang in the air for a while.
How is the new coronavirus spread? 0:25To discover how the virus is primarily transmitted, the researchers analyzed trends in infection rates in three epicenters: Wuhan, China; Italy; and New York City. They also analyzed the mitigation measures that were being used in those places, such as exhaustive testing, quarantine, contact location, social distancing, and mandatory use of face masks.
READ: The masks seem to work to fight the coronavirus, even if some reject them and the US exceed 100,000 deaths
They then compared the time when those measures were implemented. In China, all the measures were implemented at the same time. In contrast, New York and Italy saw different measures implemented at different times. This allowed the researchers to assess their relative effectiveness.
They found that infection rates in Italy and New York City only started to decline after face masks were mandatory, not after confinement was established in Italy or after quarantine orders went into effect in New York.
There has been a lot of confusion about the effectiveness of face masks.
"The WHO did not issue advice on the use of face masks until April 6, 2020, arguing that it is important to prevent viral transmission from infected people by filtering the drops, but that it is not important to prevent uninfected people from breathing aerosols with the virus, ”wrote Zhang and his colleagues. When people wear face masks, they protect others more than they protect themselves. "
But the researchers said the evidence shows that the masks work to decrease the spread.
"Covering the face prevents airborne transmission by blocking the atomization and inhalation of virus-carrying aerosols and contact transmission by blocking viral droplet release," they write. "On the other hand, social distancing, quarantine, and isolation, along with hand disinfection, minimize contact transmission (direct and indirect) but do not protect against air transmission."
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