Significant drop in Covid-19 spread in countries where masks are mandatory – scientist

In countries where most citizens wear face masks in public and where it has even been made mandatory, the spread of the new coronavirus has been largely curbed. This is according to Jeremy Howard, a computer scientist at the University of San Francisco.

Howard said in an interview with Carte Blanche on Sunday that statistics show that if about 50% of a population wears masks, the distribution decreases by 50%, reports George Herald.

If 80% of citizens wear a mask, the virus is stopped in its tracks.

He referred to the Czech Republic, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, where the spread of the virus is much less than in countries where it is increasing rapidly, such as the USA, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. In Japan, where restrictions only apply where outbreaks have been experienced, the spread of the virus is under control.

German international television and radio broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) also concluded in an online article that face masks make a major contribution to curbing the virus, as experienced in Japan. It’s a country that typically goes through 5.5 billion face masks a year – 43 per person.

Wearing masks is part of their personal hygiene.

Howard wrote in an article (4 April) in theguardian.com that a five-year study at the University of Hong Kong and the University of Maryland found that a simple mask blocks 100% of coronavirus drops.

“There is a massive divide between what science shows and what many countries are doing. Masks may be the most important weapon in our war against the virus, but we are not using it,” he wrote.

‘Wearing a mask is going to become a feature of life in SA’

In an interview with DA leader John Steenhuisen on Tuesday, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said the DA should become the “party of masks”. Wearing masks wear must become part of the South African culture.

“You don’t need a surgical mask, but every South African must own a cloth mask. Wearing a mask is going to be a feature of South African life for a very long time. We have to help people get masks.

“It is important that one still maintains the usual hygiene protocol by washing hands and not touching one’s face.”

The department of health has also shared other insights and while the recommendation initially was that wearing masks by uninfected persons would not necessarily protect them, Minister Zweli Mkhize last week announced his department’s support for wearing homemade cloth masks.

Even before Mkhize’s announcement, mask-making projects in the country had started such as #10MillionMasks and masks4sa.co.za, encouraging South Africans to make or buy their own cloth masks.

The drivers of these projects discouraged the use of surgical masks and said they should rather be available to healthcare professionals.

The World Health Organisation initially advised uninfected people to wear face masks, but has now also changed its recommendation. However, people are warned not to wear surgical masks but homemade cloth masks due to a global shortage that increases health workers’ risk of infection with the new coronavirus.

This article was translated from Afrikaans

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.