ABOVE: A face mask might protect the person wearing it as well as others, studies suggest. © ISTOCK.COM, LEGNA69
Wearing a face mask may stave off severe infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, or could prevent infection entirely, a growing body of research suggests.
Masks “really are protective of you as an individual,” Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician at the University of California, San Francisco, tells NPR. That physical barrier—while not impervious to viral penetration—blocks some viral particles from getting into the body, she says. Reducing the amount of exposure could allow the immune system to neutralize the invaders, potentially resulting in a milder infection or no infection at all. She and colleagues present the idea and supporting evidence from animal studies and observational COVID-19 reports in more detail in a paper slated to appear next week in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
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