COVID-19: Do Masks Really Work?

Now that the President, First Lady and others have contracted COVID-19, presumably linked to last week’s Rose Garden Event where COVID restrictions were neither practiced nor enforced, is there scientific evidence to back up safe practices recommended by CDC and others since the pandemic arose many months ago?

My friend and colleague, Dr. Deepak Bhatt recently spearheaded a study at Harvard’s Mass General & Brigham & Women’s Hospital that found that universal mask wearing by health care workers was associated with a significantly lower COVID-19 positivity rate than when masks were not worn. Another study showed that face masks worn by 2 hair stylists who tested positive for COVID did not transmit the virus to any of their clients, all of whom had also worn face masks. And in another case, an international traveler with a dry cough that was subsequently confirmed to be due to COVID-19, did not infect any of his fellow travelers during a 15-hour flight from China to Canada.

Bottom Line: Wearing a mask really does work to protect against the spread of COVID-19. Protective masks include N-95 (for health care professionals) and level 3 surgical masks, the latter of which are now readily available and inexpensive. As long as these masks don’t get wet, they can be reworn; otherwise they need to be replaced. We absolutely do not recommend masks with valves because the virus can be transmitted through the valve outlet area. In other words, wearing such a mask is not protective to others. In addition to the mask, maintaining social distance (at least 6 feet), and keeping your hands well sanitized reduces your risk of the virus to very low and to negligible levels when interacting with others who are also wearing a (non-valve) mask. It is fair to say that had such COVID restrictions been practiced at last week’s Rose Garden (and/or possibly another recent event), neither the President nor those he was in close contact with, would have become infected. While we wish the President, First Lady and all those affected with COVID-19 a speedy recovery, why not apply common sense methods to protect each other until we can eradicate this deadly virus?

Michael Miller, MD is Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland USA.  His latest book is  “Heal Your Heart: The Positive Emotions Prescription...” published by Penguin Random House.