Some people say they don't need to buy or wear masks because they don't protect you. Other people state the opposite. Everyone in China, Japan, etc is wearing masks.
What’s the truth?
Face masks are not there to protect you from catching novel coronavirus (COVID-19). They are used to prevent you, in case you are already close contact, from infecting others(human-to-human transmission).
Let’s see how.
2019-nCoV is a coronavirus that infects mainly the nose, mouth, throat, and lungs. If the virus reaches the lungs it’s highly likely to cause a very severe and potentially lethal pneumonia. It also spreads mainly through the tiny droplets each of us sprays around while talking, coughing, sneezing.
1) Droplet Transmission
With a single cough or sneeze you can spray these droplets for about 6 meters, while simply talking you can spray around for about 2 meters. Anyone who stands in a radius of 2 meters, in case you are already infected by the COVID-19. but have no symptoms (or no major symptoms) would risk getting infected just by you talking within this radius. This is why one of recomendations is to stand at 2 meters from the people you are talking to.
2) Asymptomatic Infection
The other important vehicle of infection is the droplets that fall on more or less everything. As you walk around and maybe chat with a friend, you are nonetheless spraing around, and the viruses deposit on each and every surface. If someone touches these surfaces and then distractly touches an eye or scratches the nose, this person may be infected as well.
3) Epidemic Prevention And Control
3-Ply disposable masks, cotton masks, KN95 masks, protective clothing/suits (or even sewing masks and wash daily) have the effect of containing these droplets. If you talk or cough or sneeze, the mask will hold the droplets in and prevent you from infecting people around you.
These are particularly suggested in areas with a high quota of infections. Wearing a surgical mask or even a cloth mask you may still catch the infection, but you drastically reduce the risk of infecting others. If everyone wears a surgical mask, then the risk that you will catch Covid-19 decreases in a very relevant way because anyone who is already infected by 2019-nCoV will not likely infect you.
So, should you wear a mask or not? Yes, do wear a mask if you want, but consider that you are not doing it merely for yourself: you are doing it to protect the others from yourself.
If we all did it, the risk would be much lower for everyone, the secondary infection case will become less and less, and the possibility of the lockdown of a city will also be lower and lower.
