New Study Finds That Masks Are Very Effective In Fighting Covid-19

Wearing a mask, hand-washing, and social distance are among of the most efficient measures to avoid contracting COVID-19 and spreading the disease, according to a review of research from around the world.

The BMJ, a worldwide health care publisher, published a huge study on Thursday that looked at 72 papers from all around the world to see if non-pharmaceutical health practices may help reduce COVID-19 instances. Hand washing, using masks, and social distance were observed to dramatically minimize COVID-19 instances, according to the scientists.

Vaccines were backed by scientists, who agreed that they had been demonstrated to be efficient and safe, and that they can rescue lives. Nevertheless, most vaccinations do not provide 100 percent immunity, and given the rising trend of variations like delta, it’s unclear how immunizations can prevent further spreading of COVID-19.

Also there’s herd immunity to take into account, as the barrier for acquiring it varies widely depending on the nation and its population’s reaction to vaccinations, vaccine types accessible, and which demographic groups are prioritized for vaccination, among other things.

As per the study, nations where mask wearing was mandated had 45.7 % less COVID-19-related mortality. In the United States, one research found that wearing a mask reduced COVID-19 transmission by 29% in states where masks were mandatory.

Scientists found that a 25% reduction in the frequency of COVID-19 was found after analyzing five distinct trials.

“When implementing public health measures, it is important to consider specific health and sociocultural needs of the communities and to weigh the potential negative effects of the public health measures against the positive effects for general populations,”  explained the scientists.

Handwashing was discovered to be yet another important prophylactic strategy, with researchers discovering a 53 percent reduction in COVID-19 occurrence. Despite the fact that the scientists said that this was meaningful, their final study revealed that it was not statistically meaningful.

Study also showed that company and school lockdowns and shutdowns were mostly beneficial in controlling COVID-19, but only if they were implemented early enough when COVID-19 levels were still small.