Health security

 

If you still won’t wear a coronavirus face mask after seeing this, you’re insane

• A new study from the Mayo Clinic showed that face masks of any kind are critical for preventing coronavirus transmission.
• The researchers used mannequins to prove the effectiveness of face coverings and conducted similar experiments at different distances.
• The study found that face masks combined with social distancing can significantly reduce one’s risk of contracting COVID-19 when exposed to infected people.

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Rather than becoming a simple tool to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, face masks have become highly controversial. An anti-mask movement fueled by politics rather than science gained traction in the US and abroad, with some people becoming convinced that face coverings don’t help to stop the spread. Some went even further, claiming that masks will prevent oxygen from reaching the body. Worst of all, some likened masks to oppression and found all sorts of reasons to avoid wearing masks in public.

Time and again, the scientific community came through, running simple experiments and conducting studies that demonstrated how face masks block tiny particles like the novel coronavirus and proved that they don’t pose any safety threat to the wearer. The latest such study comes from the Mayo Clinic, whose study concluded that masks play a “critical” role in preventing COVID-19 transmission.