No Lockdown Shouldn't Mean No Mask - interview with WHO researchers

Updated: Sep 28, 2020

With lockdown restrictions being eased and relaxed, it is important that we continue with certain habits that we were taught during the past few months.

There could be a second wave of infection s. So it’s up to us to minimalise the effects on the economy and to people.

How? Facemasks, social distancing and hand washing.

What are the dangers of easing lockdown?

“There’s some concern that without the ability to implement widespread testing and to be able to track cases, we may find ourselves in a situation where the spread of the virus might get out of hand again”

To answer that question we should look at Texas, in the United States.

Texas recently lifted its lockdown restrictions, it was one of the first states to do so.

Before lockdown, medics in the coronavirus wing at a hospital named HMMC could boast about a 100% success rate in treating COVID-19 patients over a period that lasted longer than 80 days, as reported by Sky news.

After lockdown things changed. While they still enjoy a 96% success rate, they are facing a potential “Tsunami” according to one medic there.

The number of coronavirus cases in Texas has nearly tripled in two weeks and there have been days of record-high infections in Houston, the state’s the largest city.

Governor Greg Abbott has admitted lifting lockdown was a mistake and is now slowly reversing his decision.

Could this happen in the UK?

Professor Larry Chu, who is a practising anesthesiologist in Stanford and helped write changes to the WHO (World Health Organisation) guidelines on cloth face masks, says that in the state of California, one of the first states to ask its population to remain home, “there’s some concern that without the ability to implement widespread testing and to be able to track cases, we may find ourselves in a situation where the spread of the virus might get out of hand again”.

Businesses in the service and hospitality industries are at risk of exposure to those who do not present COVID-19 symptoms (asymptomatic carriers):

“We know for instance that up to 40% of people may be asymptomatic carriers of the virus, so wearing a mask in public can greatly help with source control and preventing the spread”.

Dr Amy Price, a senior researcher at Stanford University, who also helped write the WHO guidelines on face masks has had a family member whose manager has tested positive in the hospitality industry.

She explains that the importance of wearing a mask isn’t to protect ourselves, it’s to protect others. “I don’t wear a mask to protect myself, I wear a mask to protect you from me, and if you’re also wearing that mask then it’s a dual protection.

“It’s how we help each other”.

And that’s the problem in Britain. Britons are far less likely to wear protective facial coverings “than almost all other countries”, writes Matthew Smith, a lead data journalist, in an article on the statistics organisation ‘YouGov’.

Only 31% of Britons wear a face mask in public according to YouGov data. The percentage in countries in Asia, for contrast, is between 79-92% according to data from the same survey.

Why do we see face masks in a bad light?

“Once the mask becomes socialised as a fashion statement, I think there’ll be far more acceptance”

There are a lot of misconceptions around face masks. The YouGov study that pointed out how bad we are at wearing them, also says that those who don’t wear masks are less likely to think positively of them.

Dr Amy Price says that is because masks prevent us from making our usual kind of contact with people.

“We use our mouths to smile and to show expression, […] so it’s a lot easier to communicate.

“There’s a lot of people that, they’re not stone deaf, but they can’t hear so well”, she adds, “So they get in very close, so they can hear”.

Price also says that getting small children to wear a mask can also be very difficult because some are afraid of masks.

In Britain, we face a similar issue. People who haven’t been wearing a mask are a lot more likely to expect to feel silly, uncomfortable and other negative emotions than those who wear masks; 75 to 55% respectively.

However, Price argues there are all sorts of ways we can work around it. “If it’s made something that turns into fashion, that changes everything.

“Once the mask becomes socialised as a fashion statement, I think there’ll be far more acceptance”.

“We’re all less careful than we think”, says Price.

As of writing this article, Britain became the first country in Europe to pass 30 thousand deaths in May, and is still second highest in the world, behind only to the US. In terms of infection rate, the only country in Europe that surpasses Britain is Sweden, which decided not to impose a lockdown.

That is why it is more important than ever that we act in a socially responsible way. These some final tips from Dr Amy Price and Larry Chu:

Chu: “Some people think that if they are wearing a mask they’re protected, but they forget about social distancing or they forget about handwashing”.
Chu: “You wear a mask to protect other people around you, but it’s not intended to protect yourself”.
Price: "Masks are “not like your socks, where you think you can get out one more day out of them” “Once your mask has been exposed, you need to wash it”.
Price: Masks need “to be disinfected. Like Dr Chu says, you’re putting biohazardous waste on your face”.
Price: Masks are “a bit like a toothbrush. Your mask has your personal germs on it, you don’t actually want to lend it even to a family member. So think about it like a toothbrush and keep your germs to yourself”.

And if you want to learn how to the most protective face mask according to Dr Chu and Dr Price's studies, listen to this audio guide.