The wearing of facemasks – Latest advice from the World Health Organisation
There has been a lot of debate around the effectiveness of wearing face masks in the community. The WHO’s interim guidance of April 6, 2020 had not recommended the use of face masks for healthy individuals in the community as a way to reduce or prevent COVID-19 transmission.
However, in light of evolving evidence, the WHO has updated its interim guidance to recommend the use of face masks by all individuals in public areas where there is ongoing community transmission:
“…taking into account the available studies evaluating pre- and asymptomatic transmission, a growing compendium of observational evidence on the use of masks by the general public in several countries, individual values and preferences, as well as the difficulty of physical distancing in many contexts, WHO has updated its guidance to advise that to prevent COVID-19 transmission effectively in areas of community transmission, governments should encourage the general public to wear masks in specific situations and settings as part of a comprehensive approach to suppress SARS-CoV-2 transmission.” (pg.6)
Facemasks can either act as source control (i.e. the facemask protects others) or prevention control (i.e. it protects the wearer). The WHO recommends non-medical masks for members of the public unless the wearer is a vulnerable individual (in which case a medical-grade mask is advised). The WHO guidance also details the type of materials for these non-medical masks.
The WHO interim guidance of June 5, 2020 can be accessed here.
The WHO has published videos on how to put on a mask (fabric or medical) and also how to take it off together with infographics. These can be accessed here.
The UK government has published a webpage showing how to make a simple homemade face covering. View it here.
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