LibGuides: COVID-19 for the Ada Community: Mask Research

Frequent Questions

Cloth Face Coverings
OSHA guidance on cloth face coverings.
FiveThirtyEight Blog: What To Look For In A Face Mask, According To Science
Helpful guidance in varying types of masks and materials based on scientific research.

Carbon Dioxide

Intensive Care Unit physician Greg Schmidt, MD, from University of Iowa Health Care tests whether face masks impede your breathing or make you retain carbon dioxide.

Takeaways:

Face masks do not decrease your oxygen intake
They also do not make you retain more carbon dioxide than usual
Oxygen and CO2 are very small, so they can easily pass through a face mask
Droplets are much larger in comparison, and they cannot pass easily through a face mask
Wearing face coverings now helps us get back to normal sooner

Legionnaires' Disease

"Is it possible to get Legionnaires’ disease from wearing a face mask or wearing a cloth face covering that hasn’t been washed?

You cannot contract Legionnaires’ disease from wearing face masks. Legionella bacteria is transmitted by aspirating drinking water or breathing in water droplets. Legionella is not spread from person-to-person in respiratory droplets nor does the bacteria survive on dry surfaces. Your mask would not be a source of transmission for the Legionella bacteria."

From Legionella.org, https://legionella.org/faqs/general-public/

The site is maintained by researchers.

Masks and Children

Mask Safety for Children
Guidance from a pediatrician, including the situations when a child should not wear a mask.
Mask Safety 101: Why You Shouldn’t Mask a Baby
Discusses why masks shouldn’t be worn by babies and toddlers and how to protect babies. From Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Scholarly Articles

Children and Masks

There does not appear to be much scholarly research on children and masks. The following two articles were the most relevant items found during a recent, thorough search.

To mask or not to mask children to overcome COVID-19
May 2020 from the European Journal of Pediatrics. Both authors are professors of pediatrics and pediatricians. Esposito is an expert in infectious diseases. Principi is an expert in communicable diseases.
"Conclusion: On the basis of clinical findings, we think that the universal use of facial masks seems necessary when people have to go out in their everyday lives. In addition to the availability of masks of different sizes capable of adapting perfectly to the face, it is necessary that the use of masks in children is preceded by a strong parental work and school lessons on this issue and other hygiene topics with the main aim to obtain child cooperation."
Assessment of the Wearability of Facemasks against Air Pollution in Primary School-Aged Children in London
From the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
This article is not specific to COVID-19 and assesses children's comfort and breathing abilities in 3 different brands of face masks as a potential protection from air pollution. However, it is one of the few research articles that pertains to children wearing masks.
“Twenty-four primary school children wore each facemask during a standardised walking and running activity. After each activity, the children were asked to rate facemask wearability in terms of parameters, such as perceived comfort, hotness, breathability and fit. At the end of the trial, the children compared and identified their preferred facemask. The main complaint about the facemasks was the children’s faces being too hot….The results show children’s perceptions of facemasks are highly affected by the facemask’s design, hotness and perceived breathability. By making children’s facemasks more appealing, breathable, cooler and improving their fit, wearability may be improved.”

Mask Research

Most research on masks and limiting the spread of viruses has focused on the mask protecting the person wearing it. COVID-19 has changed that focus. The articles below are listed in chronological order, dating back to 2008.

Professional and Home-Made Face Masks Reduce Exposure to Respiratory Infections among the General Population
Published in 2008 and evaluates the protective effect of masks. This study "assessed transmission reduction potential provided by personal respirators, surgical masks and home-made masks when worn during a variety of activities by healthy volunteers and a simulated patient."
The authors concluded: "Any type of general mask use is likely to decrease viral exposure and infection risk on a population level, in spite of imperfect fit and imperfect adherence, personal respirators providing most protection. Masks worn by patients may not offer as great a degree of protection against aerosol transmission."
Face Mask Use and Control of Respiratory Virus Transmission in Households
Published in 2009 and evaluates how well masks would protect the person wearing it from infection.
"Adherence to mask use was associated with a significantly reduced risk of ILI (influenza-like illness)-associated infection. We concluded that household use of masks is associated with low adherence and is ineffective in controlling seasonal ILI. If adherence were greater, mask use might reduce transmission during a severe influenza pandemic."
Testing the Efficacy of Homemade Masks: Would They Protect in an Influenza Pandemic?
Published in 2013 and specifically studies the use of homemade masks to control the spread of infection disease.
“Our findings suggest that a homemade mask should only be considered as a last resort to prevent droplet transmission from infected individuals, but it would be better than no protection.”
Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks
Published April 3, 2020.
"We identified seasonal human coronaviruses, influenza viruses and rhinoviruses in exhaled breath and coughs of children and adults with acute respiratory illness. Surgical face masks significantly reduced detection of influenza virus RNA in respiratory droplets and coronavirus RNA in aerosols, with a trend toward reduced detection of coronavirus RNA in respiratory droplets. Our results indicate that surgical face masks could prevent transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals."
Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering
Published online April 15, 2020. Note: this is a letter to the editor of a medical journal, not a scholarly research article. However, it does illustrate the spray of droplets when speaking and is consistent with other research.
"Our aim was to provide visual evidence of speech-generated droplets and to qualitatively describe the effect of a damp cloth cover over the mouth to curb the emission of droplets."
Implications of silent transmission for the control of COVID-19 outbreaks
Published July 6, 2020.
This article focuses on pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic spread, which is something that masks can help prevent. A summary of this article is available at
https://epi.ufl.edu/articles/silent-transmission-covid-19.html
Plenty of Science to Support Masks to Slow the Spread of COVID 19
Published July 15, 2020. Note: This is an aggregated list of scholarly research created by a nurse with a blog; i.e. this is a list of hyperlinks to research, not the research itself.
"The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the science behind the wisdom of the recommendation to wear cloth face coverings or other appropriate masks when social distancing is not possible during a pandemic like COVID-19 where the disease is spread through respiratory droplets."

COVID-19 for the Ada Community

Ada SAFE 2020

This site is being offered by Heterick Memorial Library as a courtesy to the Ada SAFE 2020 community group.

To reach the Ada SAFE 2020 group, please email:
adasafe2020@gmail.com.

Frequent Questions

Carbon Dioxide

Legionnaires' Disease

Masks and Children

Scholarly Articles

Children and Masks

Mask Research

COVID-19 for the Ada Community

This site is being offered by Heterick Memorial Library as a courtesy to the Ada SAFE 2020 community group.

To reach the Ada SAFE 2020 group, please email: adasafe2020@gmail.com.

Frequent Questions

Carbon Dioxide

Legionnaires' Disease

Masks and Children

Scholarly Articles

Children and Masks

Mask Research

To reach the Ada SAFE 2020 group, please email:
adasafe2020@gmail.com.