Mask wearing in pre-symptomatic patients prevents SARS-CoV-2 transmission: An epidemiological analysis

Abstract

Pandemic COVID-19 has become a seriously public health priority worldwide. Comprehensive strategies including travel restrictions and mask-wearing have been implemented to mitigate the virus circulation. However, detail information on community transmission is unavailable yet. Methods: From January 23 to March 1, 2020, 127 patients (median age: 46 years; range: 11-80) with 71 male and 56 female, were confirmed to be infected with the SARS-CoV-2 in Taizhou, Zhejiang, China. Epidemiological trajectory and clinical features of these COVID-19 cases were retrospectively retrieved from electronic medical records and valid individual questionnaire. Results: The disease onset was between January 9 to February 14, 2020. Among them, 64 patients are local residents, and 63 patients were back home from Wuhan from January 10 to 24, 2020 before travel restriction. 197 local residents had definite close-contact with 41 pre-symptomatic patients back from Wuhan. 123 and 74 of them contact with mask-wearing or with no mask-wearing pre-symptomatic patients back from Wuhan, respectively. Data showed that incidence of COVID-19 was significantly higher for local residents close-contact with no mask-wearing Wuhan returned pre-symptomatic patients (19.0% vs. 8.1%, p < 0.001). Among 57 closecontact individuals, 21 sequential local COVID-19 patients originated from a pre-symptomatic Wuhan returned couple, indicated dense gathering in congested spaces is a high risk for SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Conclusions: Our findings provided valuable details of pre-symptomatic patient mask-wearing and restriction of mass gathering in congested spaces particularly, are important interventions to mitigate the SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

SARS-CoV-2 infections among healthcare workers at Helsinki University Hospital, Finland, spring 2020: Serosurvey, symptoms and risk factors

“…The upsurge of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [ 1 , 2 ] poses a massive challenge to healthcare systems worldwide: by 21 November, 2020 the number of confirmed cases exceeded 57 million, with over 1 373 695 deaths reported [ 3 ]. Large-scale RT-PCR testing, preventive measures at hospitals and in society, mask wearing, isolation of positive cases, contact tracing, and quarantine for those exposed have been suggested as effective means of containing the epidemic [ [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] ]. As the virus is mainly transmitted from person to person, healthcare workers (HCWs) frequently exposed to Covid-19 patients constitute a vulnerable part of the workforce [ 9 ], and, if infected, may pose a risk to patients and other members of staff.…”

Fever as a predictor of adverse outcomes in COVID-19

“…Stringent infectious control measures should target these young and mobile groups of people, to limit the spread of asymptomatic COVID-19 transmissions. 4 , 15 , 16 Our unique study population represents this low-risk group of young patients with a median age of 34 years, and the vast majority without comorbidities. This is contrast to the first real-world example of undocumented asymptomatic outbreak of the ‘Diamond Princess’ cruise ship, where although there was an increase in detection rate of COVID-19 from 14% to 69% with the implementation of compulsory COVID-19 screening swabs, their population was made up of older patients (median age of 68 years) with at least 50% of patients with comorbidities.…”

Einsatz von Community-Masken in der Bevölkerung: Praxis und Anwendungsfehler während der COVID-19 Pandemie in Deutschland

“…Dieser Unterschied zeigte sich z. T. auch bei der Analyse der unterschiedlichen Anwendungsfehler-Typen: Die Fehler-Kategorien "Maske unter der Nase getragen" (p = 0,003), "Nasenbügel nicht angepasst" (p < 0,001) und "Maske an Hals und Kinn getragen" (p = 0,003) ergaben sich beim chirurgischen MNS signifikant häufiger als bei den übrigen Masken-Typen. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. In der Vergangenheit deutete sich bereits an, dass das Tragen von Masken die Transmission von Atemwegsinfektionen in Alltagssituationen (Personennahverkehr, Geschäfte etc.)…”

“…Die Nutzung von chirurgischen MNS führte zu einer Reduktion von coronavirushaltigen Aerosolen (Partikelgröße ≤ 5 μm), die Erkrankte in die freie Luft ausatmen [14]. Übertragungen durch präsymptomatische SARS-CoV-2 Träger/innen können durch den Maskengebrauch reduziert werden [21,22]. Zum breiten Einsatz von Masken in der Bevölkerung ergab ein Vergleich zwischen Hong Kong, in dem im Beobachtungszeitraum bereits eine Maskenpflicht herrschte, und Ländern mit einer ähnlichen Bevölkerungsdichte, medizinischen Versorgung und BCG-Impfhäufigkeit sowie ähnlichen Auflagen zum Abstandhalten in der Öffentlichkeit, in denen während der Studie keine Maskenpflicht bestand (u. a. Italien, Frankreich, USA, Deutschland), eine geringere Covid-19 Inzidenz für Hong Kong [16].…”