Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

May 7, 2020

The Use of Facemasks by the General Population to Prevent Transmission of Covid 19 Infection A Systematic Review

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  • A systematic literature review on the role of surgical and cloth face masks in preventing the spread of respiratory viruses in community or experimental setting shows that early initiation of facemask use can prevent the spread of respiratory viruses. This is particularly true for viruses which can be transmitted by presymptomatic or asymptotic individuals, but utility is limited by inconsistent adherence to mask use. Articles focusing on masks and N95 respirators in health care workers were excluded.  

Gupta et al. (May 6, 2020). The Use of Facemasks by the General Population to Prevent Transmission of Covid 19 Infection A Systematic Review. Pre-print downloaded May 7 from  https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.01.20087064