Thinking Allowed

medical / technology / education / art / flub

Facial Masking for Covid-19

"Facial Masking for Covid-19 — Potential for “Variolation” as We Await a Vaccine | NEJM: Facial Masking for Covid-19 Increasing the proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections that are asymptomatic with the simple public health measure of universal masking might reduce the severity of disease and ensure that a greater proportion of new infections are asymptomatic". Monica Gandhi. George W. Rutherford. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2026913.

This was discussed early in the pandemic especially among colleagues as ENT and ED doctors seemed to be disproportionately affected but it was dismissed. Could this evidence from the "Syrian hamster" disease model suggest it may be the case and the act of wearing masks reduces transmission AND severity of the disease?

Source: www.nejm.org

masking facial proportion severity asymptomatic disease covid-19 infections