According to a new study, people who wear masks to protect from disease, usually do not neglect other actions that protect their health, such as washing hands.
Some experts have worried that wearing masks to protect from the coronavirus can give users a false sense of security, but the analysis of the available evidence conducted by British researchers from Cambridge University and king’s College London, has shown that it is not.
“Many public health authorities have come to the conclusion that wearing protection on the face can help to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and the limited data available indicate that their use has no negative impact on hand hygiene,” says study co – author James Rubin, a specialist in the psychology of emerging health risks at the Department of psychological medicine, king’s College.
As CNN reports, according to published in the journal BMJ Analysis study, the wearing of coverings for the face, protecting from COVID-19, especially in common areas such as public transport, are currently required or recommended in more than 160 countries.
In their study, the researchers reviewed 22 systematic review, which investigated the influence of wearing masks on respiratory viruses, including influenza but not COVID-19.
They found six randomized controlled studies on hand hygiene, and their results showed that wearing masks does not reduce the frequency of washing or disinfecting hands. Moreover, the two studies collected from the patients data on the frequency of hand washing was higher in those groups observed, which provided mask.
“In the context of wearing the mask the authors indicate that preventive behaviour (such as wearing masks or washing hands) may actually remind the owner to comply with other related behaviors – thus increasing the whole set of measures which combine to reduce transmission,” says Dr. Julian Tang, honorary associate Professor in the field of respiratory Sciences University of Leicester.
the Idea that people have a level of risk that they are comfortable, and they adjust their behavior to maintain this level of risk (what scientists call risk compensation), it may seem intuitive at the individual level. For example, people run longer to compensate for the excessive eating, and the rider can wear a helmet to ride faster.
However, there is little hard evidence for this type of risk compensation. Studies have shown that the hypothesis that the use of a Cycling helmet is associated with risky behavior��eat, almost not confirmed.
Similarly, in another example given in the article, HPV vaccination did not lead to increase in unprotected sex, as some have suggested. Was actually discovered the opposite effect – those who have been vaccinated, less prone to unprotected sexual behavior, measured as the frequency of sexually transmitted infections.
“there is increasing evidence that the wearing of facial coverage and reduces the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and the limited available data do not support concerns that their use impacts negatively on hand hygiene, the study says. – This corresponds to the greater number of the evidence on the interventions for which compensation for risk was unfounded.”
the study Authors add that more research is needed to understand how people behave, when masks are worn in different types of premises, in order to understand whether the use of masks, social distancing.
