Is wearing a mask outdoors really useful? The scientific consensus which is gradually emerging leans more towards the “no” in most cases. For a very simple reason: the wind, even light, disperses very quickly droplets and aerosols which carry the virus. No cluster in an open environment has been revealed to date. But the absence of proof never constitutes proof of the absence, one might rightly retort.
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A recent Japanese study of 100 positive cases estimates that the risk of contracting the virus is 18.7 times lower outside than inside. If the precision of this figure leaves one wondering, this work says two things: that this risk is (very) low, but also that it is not completely zero. No one can rule out the hypothesis that it is possible to be contaminated on the terrace of a café, in the queue of a museum, in a crowded market or a very lively city center. Provided obviously that
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