Wearing face masks in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic: altruism and solidarity

Cheng, Kar Keung; Lam, Tai Hing; Leung, Chi Chiu

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30918-1

Cited by 409 publications

(389 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In order to better the control of the epidemic, we should decrease the basic reproduction number, no drugs or vaccines have proven their efficacy yet, so, to diminish the effective contact rate we need to act on its two components; the contact frequency and the contact efficacy. The preventive strategy in Algeria was mainly contact frequency reduction by containment and quarantine, this will reveal new regional outbreaks, and will help identify and isolate infected people and their surroundings with screening tests if available, on the other side, it is possible to act on contact efficacy by adding to good hygiene habits, an instruction to wear medical mask by ordinary population outside, this measure has been reported to be effective in some countries (Kar, Tai, & Chi, 2020), especially that pre-symptomatic transmission has been reported; exposure in these cases occurred 1 to 3 days before the source patient developed symptoms (Wei, et al, 2020), and pre-symptomatic transmission may contribute to 48% and 62% of transmissions (Ganyani, et al, 2020), however, this action may encounter some supply difficulties due to the lack of medical masks on the market.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Epidemic in Algeria: Assessment of the implemented preventive strategy

Hamidouche

2020

Preprint

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Since the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in China, several preventive strategies have been implemented worldwide to fight against the spread of SARS-CoV-2, in Algeria the control actions have been mainly social distancing, movement's restriction, quarantine and lockdown.In order to assess the preventive strategy adopted in Algeria, we studied three zones (whole country, the main outbreak at Blida, and whole country except Blida), we used as a indicator the basic reproduction number R0, we compared the mean R0-before and R0-after the implementation of the mitigation measures using bivariate analysis, then we used the results we found to estimate the number of COVID-19 cases avoided by these measures, then after, we predicted the peak of the epidemic's first wave.We note that the decrease in R0 after the preventive measures implementation was statistically significant (p value<10 -4 ) in the three areas, thus, the preventive strategy in Algeria has been effective in its entirety. Our projection revealed that 15613 cases of COVID-19 were avoided in 14 days (from April 6, to April 19, 2020) in the whole country, and 1747 cases were prevented in Blida during the same period. We estimate that the peak of the first wave of the epidemic in Algeria will be reached with herd immunity of 15.93% as of November 2020, however, at least 56% of people with protective immunity would be needed to be sufficient to avoid a second wave. The used method to carry out the evaluation has given us a good overview, but, R0 is not the only factor to consider when estimating the burden of the epidemic, to do that, the number of daily admissions to intensive care units and hospitalizations remain good indicators.In order to better the epidemic control in Algeria, it is possible to act on contact efficacy rate by adding an instruction to wear medical mask by ordinary population outside, this measure has been reported to be effective in some countries.To conclude, it is good to keep in mind that a new way of life based on good hygiene habits and social distancing must therefore be in place and adopted by the population for at least several months, otherwise the demand for health care will exceed the availability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Epidemic in Algeria: Assessment of the implemented preventive strategy

Hamidouche

2020

Preprint

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“…In fact, the motivation for physical distancing includes other-and self-concerns (Wise et al, 2020). Thus, in Study 4, we shifted to a different measure in the context of the pandemic that is clearly other-oriented and prosocial -wearing simple cloth (non-surgical grade) face masks (Cheng, Lam, et al, 2020). These masks do very likely not protect oneself but other individuals from getting infected (Cheng, Wong, et al, 2020); this fact is known by the vast majority of the population from which the sample in Study 4 was recruited (German citizens; Betsch et al, 2020).…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is important to note that simple cloth (non-surgical grade) face masks do very likely not protect oneself from getting infected by the virus, but protect other individuals by retaining most of the respiratory droplets released from the wearer (Cheng, Wong, et al, 2020). From this perspective, wearing a face mask is a clear prosocial act, too (Cheng, Lam, et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The emotional path to action: Empathy promotes physical distancing and wearing of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic

Pfattheicher¹,

Nockur²,

Böhm³

et al. 2020

Preprint

150

183

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The COVID-19 pandemic presents a major challenge to societies all over the globe. To curb the spread of the disease, two measures implemented in many countries are minimizing close contact between people (“physical distancing”) and wearing face masks. In the present research, we tested the idea that physical distancing and wearing face masks can be the result of a genuine prosocial emotion—empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus. In four pre-registered studies (total N = 3,718, Western population), we show that (i) empathy is indeed a basic motivation for physical distancing and wearing face masks, and (ii) inducing empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus promotes the motivation to adhere to these measures (whereas providing mere information about its importance is not). In sum, the present research provides a better understanding of the promoting factors underlying the willingness to follow two important measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“…Consequently, the growth rate of new infection cases remained above 1 for 18 days with almost zero angle of inclination (Figure 15 (b)), what demonstrates that effectiveness of the quarantine actions was insufficient during this period. For example, only from 12 May, Moscow's residents will be required to wear face masks and gloves in public transport and public places [24], while face masks in public places are one of the most important obstacles for virus spread [25]. Consequently, the growth rate crossed critical value only after 40 days from the national lockdown start, but it gives hope that eventually the epidemic reached peak of the daily new infection cases .…”

Section: The Dynamics Of the Daily New Infection Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplified model of Covid-19 epidemic prognosis under quarantine and estimation of quarantine effectiveness

Džiugys

Skarbalius

Misiulis

et al. 2020

Preprint

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A simplified model of Covid-19 epidemic dynamics under quarantine conditions and method to estimate quarantine effectiveness are developed. The model is based on the growth rate of new infections when total number of infections is significantly smaller than population size of infected country or region. The model is developed on the basis of collected epidemiological data of Covid19 pandemic, which shows that the growth rate of new infections has tendency to decrease linearly when the quarantine is imposed in a country (or a region) until it reaches constant value, which corresponds to the effectiveness of quarantine measures taken in the country. The growth rate of new infections can be used as criteria to estimate quarantine effectiveness.

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Wearing face masks in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic: altruism and solidarity

Cited by 409 publications

References 10 publications

COVID-19 Epidemic in Algeria: Assessment of the implemented preventive strategy

COVID-19 Epidemic in Algeria: Assessment of the implemented preventive strategy

The emotional path to action: Empathy promotes physical distancing and wearing of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic

Simplified model of Covid-19 epidemic prognosis under quarantine and estimation of quarantine effectiveness

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