Sarah’s Health Notes: Why wearing a mask is vital to help prevent COVID-19 infection
I still come across discussion (sometimes pretty bad-tempered debate) over whether or not wearing a mask helps prevent the spread of Covid-19 infection. For enclosed places, particularly with poor ventilation, I am firmly in the YES camp with the proviso that the mask must be well fitting and comply with WHO criteria for filtering out infectious particles.
Scroll down to find out about my favourite Silver Life Face Mask, with a special discount for Beauty Bible readers.
Bearing in mind the significant increased transmissibility of the Delta-variant (it’s possibly twice as infectious, according to the journal Nature) and the onset of autumn/winter where we are likely to spend more time indoors, I thought it was worth giving you a snapshot of the evidence.
The US National Academy of Sciences published An evidence review of face masks against COVID-19, earlier this year. This is a summary of what they said:
‘A primary route of transmission of COVID-19 is via respiratory particles, and it is known to be transmissible from presymptomatic, paucisymptomatic [subclinical], and asymptomatic individuals.’
To be crystal clear, we breathe in the virus and it’s not just people who have tested positive for Covid-19 that can pass on the virus.
‘Reducing disease spread requires two things: limiting contacts of infected individuals via physical distancing and other measures and reducing the transmission probability per contact. The preponderance of evidence indicates that mask wearing reduces transmissibility per contact by reducing transmission of infected respiratory particles in both laboratory and clinical contexts.’
In April this year, an interesting review was commissioned by the BMJ (British Medical Journal, titled Covid-19 has redefined airborne transmission. The authors explain that:
‘People infected with SARS-CoV-2 produce many small respiratory particles laden with virus as they exhale. Some of these will be inhaled almost immediately by those within a typical conversational “short range” distance (<1 m), while the remainder disperse over longer distances to be inhaled by others further away (>2 m).’
So that’s the reason for ‘social/physical distancing’. However, contrary to the belief that the infectious particles drop to the ground so are less likely to be inhaled, the authors state that:
‘the tiniest suspended particles can remain airborne for hours, and these constitute an important route of transmission.’ [One study suggested that infectious aerosols, which can be inhaled, may linger in the air for up to 16 hours.]
They add:
‘If we accept that someone in an indoor environment can inhale enough virus to cause infection when more than 2 m away from the original source—even after the original source has left—then air replacement or air cleaning mechanisms become much more important. This means opening windows or installing or upgrading heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, as outlined in a recent WHO document. People are much more likely to become infected in a room with windows that can’t be opened or lacking any ventilation system.’
The UK government recently updated its Guidance on ventilation of indoor spaces to stop the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Here’s a relevant extract:
‘In poorly ventilated rooms the amount of virus in the air can build up, increasing the risk of spreading COVID-19, especially if there are lots of infected people in the room. The virus can also remain in the air after an infected person has left.’
‘Bringing fresh air into a room and removing older stale air that contains virus particles reduces the chance of spreading COVID-19. The more fresh air that is brought inside, the quicker any airborne virus will be removed from the room.’
The second thing to emphasise is the crucial importance of well-fitting masks with high filtration efficiency, in other words masks that filter out these teeny particles.
Of course, these preventative measures don’t just apply to Covid-19 but to other respiratory viruses, including seasonal flu.
The mask I choose to wear now is a Silver Life Face Covering, developed by a team of healthcare scientists. The ‘silver’ bit means that this comfy knitted mask uses silver as an integral part of the thread, because of its long-proven antiviral and antibacterial properties (which also helps prevent ‘maskne’).
This mask meets WHO recommendations for use against the current pandemic and filters both incoming and outgoing air, providing tested effectiveness against Covid. The minimum size of a respiratory particle that can contain Covid-19 is calculated to be approximately 4.7 microns (research here), and these masks are proven to filter particles with over 99.9% efficiency down to 3 microns.
It’s made from 36% recycled material, and can be reused for up to 100 washes at 40C.
And, very important, it doesn't fog up my glasses as all the pretty ones I tried do.
My husband is wearing one too and we both recommend them highly. At the moment the one-size-really-does-fit-all is only available in black but I’m told that more neutral colours will be available soon.
Silver Life Masks are offering Beauty Bible readers a discount of £2.49 on the standard two-mask pack, making the total £22. Use code BEABIB101 at checkout - buy here
