Which public health interventions help to cut the spread of Covid-19 — and which do not? Except for vaccinations, where we have extensive trial data, this is a question on which the government has had little information to help it. But this morning’s headlines appear to offer an answer: wearing masks may help slash Covid infections by 53 per cent. Unfortunately, what the headlines don’t tell us is what kind of mask-wearing, where and in which circumstances. Do we need surgical grade masks or will cloth do? Should we wear them in the street or just indoors? Can we take them off if travelling in a near-empty train carriage?
The headlines are based on a paper led by Monash University in Australia and published in the British Medical Journal, which reviews 72 studies that have each tried to quantify public health interventions. But the details provide a far murkier answer than the headlines would imply — and still leave us largely in the dark.
Perhaps those who actively choose to wear masks are especially careful
Three main interventions were assessed: handwashing, mask-wearing and physical distancing.
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