COVID-19 and Facial Masks: How, Where, When, and Why

Abstract

After almost a year in the COVID-19 era, nothing has been done to assess facial masks currently available for professionals and for the general public, to improve the efficacy of the masks or to promote their correct use. Yet, it is paramount to produce and use masks able to guarantee the absolute virus isolation or, at least, to limit the effect of the pandemic, and to have masks with lower efficiency but able to reduce the contagion nevertheless. In addition, national and international health institutions failed to deliver rational guidelines able to assess the effectiveness of facial mask in reducing the spreading of the virus and guidance on the correct use of facial masks both for healthcare workers and for the people. Facial masks available in the market in most cases are simply not appropriate because they are intended for other purposes. Some parameters aimed to assess and define facial masks, in fact, as the Bacterial Filtration efficiency (BFE) or the Particle Filtration Efficiency (PFE), are not suitable to define prevention devices for general population during viral pandemics: devices projected according to these factors are aimed to preserve patients during surgery operations or to protect workers from air pollutants. Thus, masks designed for the containment of a pandemic (facial masks intended for public health purposes) and for the prevention of the infection (facial masks intended as personal protective equipment) must have specific characteristics. Failing to deliver such features or the inadequate use of those masks that are already available can result in harm for both individuals and the population. The aim of this chapter, then, is to rationally analyze, according to a scientific approach, the antiviral mask issue.