As Public Spaces Open, Study Says Masks More Effective In Preventing COVID-19 Infection

As economies around the world begin to open with strict social distancing norms in place, a new study has suggested that wearing masks has proved to be more effective in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Mask-wearing is even more important for preventing the virus' spread and the sometimes deadly COVID-19 illness it causes than social distancing and stay-at-home orders, researchers said, in the study published in PNAS: The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

Infection trends shifted dramatically when mask-wearing rules were implemented on April 6 in northern Italy and April 17 in New York City - at the time among the hardest hit areas of the world by the health crisis - the study found -- as reported by news agency Reuters.

"This protective measure alone significantly reduced the number of infections, that is, by over 78,000 in Italy from April 6 to May 9 and over 66,000 in New York City from April 17 to May 9," researchers calculated.

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The study says when mask-wearing was mandated in New York, the daily new infection rate fell about by 3 per cent per day. In the rest of the country, new infections spiked continuously.

Face covering is essential to prevent airborne transmission. However, other direct-contact precautions such as social distancing, quarantine and isolation, and hand sanitizing only help minimising virus transmission by direct contact.

"The unique function of face covering to block atomization and inhalation of virus-bearing aerosols accounts for the significantly reduced infections," they said. That would indicate "that airborne transmission of COVID-19 represents the dominant route for infection."

Indian government think-tank Niti Aayog in May said the lockdown decision ¡°by the Prime Minister was early and timely¡±, and ¡°the way the country effectively implemented it, is an international example¡±.