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Mask protection reduces the risk of coronavirus infection by nearly half – by an average of about 45 percent – according to a study. “That’s 55 instead of 100 new infections,” Mainz-based economist Klaus Wälde, one of the authors of the study published in the journal PNAS, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. “Or more graphically, instead of 20,000 new infections a day, we would have about 38,000 without masks.”
His conclusion: “Everyone should wear masks to protect themselves and others from infection.” Wälde, along with three other economists, had studied Jena’s special path and compared it with data from similar German cities.
In the Thüringen, protective masks – accompanied by a public relations campaign – were introduced as early as April 6, about three weeks earlier than in most other German counties and cities. “This was an extreme stroke of luck that one would like to see much more often, to be able to look at infection channels in reality,” Wälde said.
Behavioral change not excludable
The scientists compared Jena with cities such as Trier, Darmstadt, Cloppenburg and Rostock. There, infection incidence, population density, average age, proportion of seniors, and the availability of doctors and pharmacies were similar to those in Jena. “We looked at what happened in Jena and in the comparison regions three weeks after the introduction of the mask requirement.”
To rule out other effects, the scientists considered other regulations in Germany during that time. “There were no changes in regulations in Jena and Thüringen eight to 12 days before and after April 6,” Wälde said. “This made it clear that we had identified the effect of masks. We can’t completely rule out other behavioral changes due to signal effects.” One such signal effect would be, for example, that people generally behave more cautiously in the presence of masks.
hp, Source: ORF.at/agencies: Picture: pixabay.com
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