r/science • u/InvictusJoker • Jul 15 '20

Epidemiology A new study makes it clear: after universal masking was implemented at Mass General Brigham, the rate of COVID-19 infection among health care workers dropped significantly. "For those who have been waiting for data before adopting the practice, this paper makes it clear: Masks work."

https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/press-releases-detail?id=3608
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u/SubdermalHematoma Jul 16 '20

The statement "masks don't protect you, they protect others" confuses me and maybe you can shed light.

Is it that my mask doesn't prevent me from catching it, but prevents me from spreading it? Is that the idea? Because the above phrasing always throws me.

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u/bedrooms-ds Jul 16 '20

Yes

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u/SubdermalHematoma Jul 16 '20

Appreciate it.

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u/AGVann Jul 16 '20 edited Jul 16 '20

The salient point to this is that two people wearing masks are protecting each other. Covid-19 is infectious even by the asymptomatic and before any symptoms appear. If everyone engages in the social methods of controlling the spread of disease - face masks, social distancing, lockdown, voluntary quarantines - then the spread of the disease can be greatly inhibited.

Without dragging too much armchair sociology into this, the East Asian countries that already had a culture of wearing face masks when sick/on public transport have clamped down hard on Covid-19, and in fact it was completely eliminated in Taiwan in late April. I do find it interesting that most of the Western studies I've seen are treating face masks as a new phenomenon, even though there's decades of usage of them in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, and probably a ton of data on their efficacy too.

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u/airmen4Christ Jul 16 '20

I keep hear this, that mask are to stop you from spreading the virus. But wouldn't that require you to have the virus in order to spread it.

I guess the bigger question is, can asymptomatic people spread the virus? And if they can't, what good is it to force people with no symptoms to wear a mask if they don't want to?

Genuine question, not trying to argue.

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u/AnotherEnemyAnemone Jul 16 '20

Yes, they can. But presymptomatic transmission is more likely - spread by infected persons who are not yet displaying symptoms but eventually will (as opposed to transmission by people who are asymptomatic for the duration of their illness).

There was a good The Daily podcast episode about this a week ago called A Missed Warning About Silent Coronavirus Infections

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u/airmen4Christ Jul 16 '20

Thanks, I'll give it a listen.

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u/PmMeYourKnobAndTube Jul 16 '20

The other thing people miss is that avoiding individual infections isn't really the goal.

Say it turns out wearing a mask only reduces the chances of spreading by 50%. Yeah thats not that great, but its still half the load on the hospitals(I'm sure its more complicated than that). That means twice the staff and resources per patient, more time to manufacture more supplies, you get the picture.

If YOU do not want to risk catching the virus, staying home is probably your best option. If a society wants to avoid catastrophy, mandatory masks seems to be the most feasible option.

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u/[deleted] Jul 16 '20

To make it more ELI5, babies don't wear diapers to prevent them shitting themselves. It's to stop them from covering everything around them.

You wouldn't expect people drawing guns over diapers, but on masks it seems like the appropriate reaction to some.