Face masks reduce transmission of coronaviruses

May 7, 2020

An analysis of 64 scientific studies carried out by the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and funded by the World Health Organization has concluded that the use of personal protective equipment was effective in reducing transmission of previous coronavirus outbreaks including SARS and MERS. Roger Chou, director of the Pacific Northwest Evidence-based Practice Center at OHSU and a professor of medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine, who led the study, said, “We were trying to take the evidence from viruses that we thought would be most like COVID-19… in general, if you look at [individual healthcare workers] using masks versus no masks, the risk of being infected drops by anywhere from 50 percent to 80 percent.”

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