Monica Gandhi is a professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco. While her colleague, George Rutherford is a professor of epidemiology & biostatistics at the same institution. They asked themselves could universal face masks reduce severity of COVID-19 and they came up with an interesting theory. Their work appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine on September 8, 2020.
How Universal Face Masks Could Reduce Severity of Symptoms
Rutherford and Gandhi began thinking along those lines when reports surfaced of asymptomatic patients shedding high rates of virus in droplets. Therefore, it seemed probable universal masking was a possible way to prevent them infecting people. Bruce Y Lee in Forbes.Com explains this could reduce the amount of virus spreading and the disease.
This is because the amount of virus we take in, affects the likelihood of us actually contracting an infection. However, we also know how unlikely it is everybody would agree to wear face masks. Gandhi and Rutherford must have known this too. Because they followed another line of reasoning to how universal face masks could reduce severity of the disease
Could Absorbing a Small Amount of Virus Inoculate Us?
Gandhi and Rutherford noted a correlation between mass wearing of face masks and severity of infections. However, they also noticed this did not necessarily translate to a lower infection rate. But the trend was more prominent in countries that instituted population-wide face masking.
They wondered whether universal face masks could reduce disease severity while allowing antibodies to develop. However, they say they would need more research into this potentially life-saving possibility. But, there is some evidence from the past that suggests this may be the case.
By the 10th Century Chinese doctors were inoculating their people with the cowpox virus, and achieving lasting immunity from smallpox. Apparently this had a below 2% fatality rate, compared to above 20% mortality from the disease, and it became popular in Europe. Therefore, it is not completely beyond reason that our face masks could help inoculate us too.
Related
Vital Clue to the Extent of US COVID-19
Vaccine Coming But Will All Americans Take It
Preview Image: People in Wuhan Queuing for Face Masks
