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Abstract
The rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) into a global pandemic caught the world unprepared. Previously effective measures for containing disease outbreaks were overwhelmed, necessitating strict controls such as lockdowns or curfews. Among the disease control interventions, community mass masking was one of the highly controversial issues with differing opinions on its indications or effectiveness from different health authorities around the world. Regions where community mass masking was timely introduced were associated with lower transmission rates, and more effective disease control. In this article, we discuss the evidence on the effectiveness, and rationale for community mass masking to prevent the COVID-19 transmission. Areas for further research to define the role of mass masking in light of the COVID-19 pandemic will be suggested. This would help policy makers in formulating mass masking policies.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the result of infection by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), making this the third coronavirus to have crossed species and cause severe disease in humans
Transmission can occur during the latter part of the presymptomatic phase, and 48–62% of infections were attributed to presymptomatic carriers [9]
Bae et al [47] investigated the effectiveness of cotton and surgical masks for preventing virus shedding during coughing by COVID-19 patients. They found that neither surgical nor cotton masks could filter the virus effectively, which was attributed to the production of aerosols when coughing. These findings suggest that the surgical mask is adequate as a source control for asymptomatic carriers in the community, it could be less effective for those who are actively coughing
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the result of infection by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), making this the third coronavirus to have crossed species and cause severe disease in humans. Severity of illness is generally increased in those at a more advanced age, while the younger carriers have only mild symptoms and are able to spread the virus undetected. Another feature of the COVID-19 infection is the long presymptomatic phase, with a median incubation period of 5–6 days and can be as long as 19 days [5,6,7,8]. Transmission can occur during the latter part of the presymptomatic phase, and 48–62% of infections were attributed to presymptomatic carriers [9] These presymptomatic carriers were able to pass undetected through temperature screening, a previously dependable process for disease control at border checkpoints, and facilitating the rapid spread globally
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