The majority of Americans wear masks and are “confident” that they are protecting themselves from the Chinese corona virus, a Gallup survey has found. These findings precede a Danish study that casts doubt on the effectiveness of surgical masks, and this comes as experts emphasize the importance of social distance.
“Which of the following is the reason you believe you can protect yourself in public?” The survey asked.
Respondents believe “you wear a mask in public,” and they are the first to feel confident, with 51 percent saying, “others wear masks when they are in public.”
Social exclusion, which some experts have identified as preventing the spread of the virus rather than wearing surgery or cotton masks, took third place, with 49 percent opting for the option.
Thirty-six percent said they were confident of protecting themselves from the virus because a third of them said they were “personally healthy” and “others follow public health practices and do a good job.”
Thirteen percent said people under their age generally do not experience “serious health hazards” from the virus, while eight percent said they do not need to take special precautions “because it is difficult to catch the corona virus”.
The survey, conducted on November 1-6 “as part of the Franklin Templeton-era economy of recovery,” surveyed 5,026 adults.
Last month, the Danmask-19 study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that there was no statistically significant difference in infection rates between those who wore a surgical mask and those who did not.
Got it:
The recommendation to wear a surgical mask while out of the house, among others, has not been reduced, and in general statistical significance the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in mask wearers was practiced at social distance and other public hygiene measures, and the social use of masks was uncommon in those activities. Nevertheless, the findings are endless, and a 46% reduction in the risk of a 23% increase in the number of infections among masked people in such a system cannot be ruled out. It is important to emphasize that the effects of these test masks are not referred to as source control or as safe in systems where community distance and other public health practices are not in practice.
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A total of 3030 participants were approximately assigned to the recommendation to wear masks, and 2994 were assigned to control; 4862 completed the study. Recommended masks (1.8%) and 53 control participants (2.1%) were infected with SARS-CoV-2 in 42 participants. Group difference was .30.3 percent (95% CI, .21.2 to 0.4 percentage points; p = 0.38) (discrepancy ratio, 0.82 [CI, 0.54 to 1.23]; B = 0.33). A number of computational accounts for follow-up losses yielded similar results. Although the observed difference was not statistically significant, 95% of CIs increased infection by 23% with a 46% reduction.
U.C. Davis stressed that the July update from health experts showed that social distance would be more effective in reducing transmission rates than masks, although wearing a mask also had a positive effect.
“So we don’t know who can spread this,” he said. Said Dean Plumberg, head of pediatric infectious diseases at Davis Children’s Hospital. “We know that social exclusion reduces the risk of spreading the virus by 90 percent and wearing masks by 65 percent.”