For all the talk about face masks in the day and age of the COVID-19 pandemic, a pair of respiratory experts from the University of Illinois at Chicago is setting the record straight about what effect they believe masks truly have in a commentary posted to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) website.
“We do not recommend requiring the general public who do not have symptoms of COVID-19-like illness to routinely wear cloth or surgical masks because there is no scientific evidence they are effective in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission,” renown respiratory experts Dr. Lisa M. Brosseau and Dr. Margaret Sietsema recently wrote on the CIDRAP website.
In fact, the CIDRAP piece wonders if the practice may actually be having the opposite effect of what's intended.
“Their use may result in those wearing the masks to relax other distancing efforts because they have a sense of protection” and “we need to preserve the supply of surgical masks for at-risk health care workers,” Brosseau and Sietsema wrote.
Comparatively speaking, surgical masks are thought to have much more value than cloth ones, though researchers conclude not even the latter can compare to properly used respirators when it comes to providing protections for frontline workers dealing with coronavirus cases.
“We do not know whether respirators are an effective intervention as source control for the public,” Brosseau and Sietsema wrote. “A non-fit-tested respirator may not offer any better protection than a surgical mask. Respirators work as PPE only when they are the right size and have been fit-tested to demonstrate they achieve an adequate protection factor. In a time when respirator supplies are limited, we should be saving them for frontline workers to prevent infection and remain in their jobs.”
In any case, researchers conclude that filter efficiency and fit are key elements in the equation, with the best indicator of performance starting with filter efficiency and a fit that prevents leakage around the face piece.
In the end, donning a surgical mask in a household setting appears to have minimal impact on transmission of respiratory disease to other members of the house, with all the data likewise suggesting that when they would have little impact when worn by the public during the time of a pandemic.
In addition, researchers highlighted that there is no evidence that surgical masks worn by health care workers are effective at limiting the emission of small particles or in preventing contamination of wounds during surgery and only “moderate evidence” that such protections worn by patients in those settings can lower the emission of large particles generated during coughing.
By comparison, most reviews found that N95 FFRs masks offered higher protection against clinical respiratory illness and lab-confirmed bacterial infections when evaluated against other masks.
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