Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

April 6, 2020

Widespread use of face masks in public may slow the spread of SARS CoV-2: an ecological study

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  • In this ecological study, the authors found that countries that promoted widespread face mask usage had lower cumulative numbers of COVID-19 diagnosis after controlling for testing intensity and age of the epidemic. While cautioning about the ecological fallacies, the study supports widespread usage of face masks in public in addition to the full package of interventions that have proven to work in Asian countries (rapid response, extensive testing, and contact isolation).  

Kenyon (Apr 2, 2020). Widespread use of face masks in public may slow the spread of SARS CoV-2: an ecological study. Pre-print downloaded Apr 6 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.02.20051417