The Efficacy of Facemasks in the Prevention of COVID-19: A Systematic Review Braden
1 Allison , 1Donald
Background
1 Mohammed ,
1 Bisen ,
Arrianna Yash Christian Nouryan 1 1 Janice Lester , Joseph Cervia MD
and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Results
The efficacy of facemasks in the prevention of disease transmission is a widely debated issue with a paucity of evidence underlying it. At the onset of the COVID19 pandemic, in late 2019, many experts warned against use of facemasks by the public due to fears of self-contamination and concerns that widespread use would deplete personal protective equipment (PPE) stores. More recently, officials changed trajectories and began considering potential benefits of facemask use, such as preventing transmission of the virus to others or, in the case of HCWs, protecting oneself while interacting with infected individuals. Despite the mass politicization, the efficacy of facemasks in the context of COVID-19 is not well studied and its impact on transmission has not yet been fully elucidated.
Hypothesis This systematic review sought to analyze the efficacy of facemasks, regardless of type, on the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in both healthcare and communal settings. It was hypothesized that wearing a facemask would be associated with lower rates of COVID-19.
Conclusions Wearing a facemask was seen to be associated with lower COVID-19 rates in both healthcare settings and in non-healthcare settings as well. This is most likely in unison with other precautions and protective equipment, especially in healthcare settings.
Future Direction
Figure 1: PRISMA diagram depicting the search strategy used in the review.
882 subjects were reported overall. Of them 637 (72.2%) reported wearing masks while 245 (27.8%) did not. 197 (22.3%) received a positive COVID-19 test. Of these, 44 (22.3%) had been wearing masks and 153 (77.7%) had not been wearing masks. 511 subjects were in health care settings. 376 (73.6%) reported wearing masks while 135 (26.4%) reported not wearing masks. 83 (16.2%) of them A systematic review was conducted in Pubmed, Web of received a positive COVID-19 test. Of these, 21 (25.3%) had Figure 7: Independent CRISPR knockout of CDK4 or CDK6 been wearing masks and 62 (74.7%) had not been wearing Science, Embase and Cochrane library from database does not cause dropout in most breast cancer cell lines studied. masks. There were 371 subjects in non health care settings, inception to August 2020. Only English language 261 (70.4%) reported wearing masks while 110 (29.7%) did articles were retrieved, and conference proceedings were omitted. Results were reported according to the not. 114 (30.7%) of them received a positive COVID-19 test. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Of these, 23 (20.2%) had been wearing masks and 91 (79.8%) had not been wearing masks. Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria.
Methods
1 MA ,
Facemasks are rarely used in isolation, and other preventative measures are typically used in conjunction with them. A possible avenue of future research would be an analysis of which measures are most effective when used in tandem with facemasks. Additionally, there is large variability in regional laws that govern the use of facemasks; in some areas facemasks are recommended by officials whereas in other areas there are legal and financial penalties for abstaining from wearing a facemask. Another future topic of interest might be the effects of such legal mandates. Finally, this initial sample size was small and additional analysis, as more information becomes available, is needed.
Resources 1 Hong L-X, Lin A, He Z-B, et al. Mask wearing in pre-symptomatic patients prevents SARS-CoV-2 transmission: An epidemiological analysis. Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease. 2020;36:101803. doi:10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101803 2. An B, Tang SY. Lessons from COVID-19 Responses in East Asia: Institutional Infrastructure and Enduring Policy Instruments. SSRN Electronic Journal. July 2020. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3602375 3. Nir-Paz R, Grotto I, Strolov I, et al. Absence of in-flight transmission of SARS-CoV-2 likely due to use of face masks on board. Journal of Travel Medicine. July 2020. doi:10.1093/jtm/taaa117