How does mask wearing protect against COVID?
How does mask wearing protect against COVID? - How does airborne transmission of COVID occur and how effective are masks against infection? Professor Lena Ciric (UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering) discusses how we can minimise the risk of transmission in indoor spaces. Masks have been a common sight all over the world since SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, invaded our lives. We set out to investigate if they work. Our goal was to find out how the virus travels through the air in buildings so we could understand more about the risk of airborne infection - including whether masks can help to control the number of respiratory droplets in the air and therefore reduce transmission. This is what we know so far. As we talk, cough and breathe, a jet of air rushes out of our lungs through our mouth and nose - in the process, it gathers respiratory fluid from the lungs, throat, and mouth creating droplets which are then emitted into the air. High energy vocal activities, such as singing and coughing, increase the amount of droplets and provide a greater force to propel these further into the space around us.
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