In an updated scientific brief issued early this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasized, wearing a mask protects the one wearing it -- and not just other people -- from COVID-19.
The agency also said the protective benefits of masks are stronger the more they are worn consistently and correctly by people.
Reports on the brief said, when, in April, the CDC initially proposed that Americans wear a cloth face mask, it referred to evidence that the virus could be spread even by asymptomatic people who might not know or be aware they have the infection, a group approximated to account for over half of the transmissions.
The CDC also said that masks were designed to block virus-laden particles that might be produced by an infected individual. In the said updated report, the health agency explained that it is still the main intention of wearing a face mask.
However, it also referred to growing evidence that even a cloth mask can lessen the amount of infectious droplets breathed in by the person wearing it.
Reduces Severity of the Disease
According to infectious disease physician Dr. Monica Gandhi, from the University of California, San Francisco, "This messaging is key" to raise obedience and interest in wearing masks.
In addition, Gandhi contended in a recently-released paper that wearing a face mask can lessen the severity of disease with COVID-19, even if the person wearing it does become infested.
As for the type of mask to wear, the CDC also noted that when it comes to cloth masks, several layers made of higher thread counts are more effective when it comes to shielding the wearer compared to single layers of cloths that have lower thread counts.
Wake Forest School of Medicine professor and anesthesiology chair Dr. Scott Segal said he has been testing various cloth masks to identify effectiveness since March.
Describing the test, he said, the rule of thumb is to "hold up the fabric to a bright light or the sun." the professor continued, if one can see the light delineating the individual threads in the fabric, perhaps, it is not a good filter.
Study Findings
In this new scientific brief, the health agency has reviewed the "epidemiological and observational evidence" on the use of face mask and the transmission of COVID-19.
The said evidence includes an investigation of more than 120 households in Beijing, where at once, one person had a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 case.
As reported, when all members of the household wore face coverings as a preventive measure before the infected individual began to show symptoms, the transmission risk decreased by 79 percent.
Another research that the CDC has highlighted found that among 1,000 individuals who were contact-traced in Thailand, those who said they were constantly wearing a mask "during high-risk exposures had a greater than 70-percent" lower risk of becoming infected, compared to those who did not wear masks under such circumstances.
The health agency also referred to a study that found that when wearing a mask was strictly implemented "onboard long flights, infected passengers" did not spread the virus to anyone else on the same plane.
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