Wearing a mask will protect you from coronavirus? Here’s the answer
Panic gripped Pakistan after two cases of deadly coronavirus were confirmed by health officials on Wednesday.
The health officials confirmed the two people who had travelled to Iran tested positive for coronavirus.
As soon as the local broadcasters the broke news of the virus entering the country, people started asking several questions online.
Most of the questions were about preventive measures against the virus, with many Pakistanis wondering weather wearing a mask will protect them from the virus.
Dr Syra Madad, Special Pathogens Expert at the New York City Healtha and Hospital and Dr Stephen Morse, Professor of Epidemiology at Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University recently answered this and many other questions regarding coronavirus in a video in which both the experts went o to debunk may myths surrounding the disease.
Below is the transcription of a question and the answer. You can also find the video at the end of the answer.
“Wearing a mask will protect me from the virus?
A lot of people like to think so. And , of course, a mask gives you a sense of security. But the problem is that people who wear these masks usually don’t wear them properly.They have never really been trained.
They may not know what kind of mask to wear.
So there’s two types of masks: One, the simple or surgical mask that you see the general population wearing. And then there’s another type of mask that healthcare workers wear. It’s called the N95 mask, and it’s a respirator, and it is able to filter particles that are airborne with 95 perfcet efficacy. And the one that healthcare workers wear, they have to go through what we call fit testing. And so to make sure they are perfect sealed.
People who may think they wanna wear an N95 find it very uncomfortable after a while. So even if it’s well fit, it’s then especially hard to breathe through.
And the mask is really for those that are infected with the actual coronavirus disease, not so much for a healthy individual.
So things that actually have proven to be effective is washing your hands often, 20 seconds, as well as obviously, if you are sick, staying home. So, a number of other public health measures that actually are proven to be extremely effective.