The scientist found that the COVID-19 disease occurs in a milder form in patients who were in a medical mask at the time of infection. This was reported to the Spanish news agency EFE by a specialist in infectious diseases, director of the medical center of the International University of La Rioja Vicente Soriano.
Soriano led the study, in which scientists analyzed data on outbreaks of coronavirus that occurred in Madrid during the first wave of the pandemic. The experts were able to compare the degree of transmission of the virus and hospitalization.
Among other things, a house with nuns was examined, where 25 guests were infected. Although half of the residents were over 65, no one needed hospitalization. The expert claims that this is due to the observance of safety measures, including wearing masks.
In another case, a meeting of ten people was considered who spent three hours in an enclosed space without masks and keeping a distance. The whole company was infected with the coronavirus, and four were hospitalized. “This suggests that exposure to low concentrations of coronavirus could lead to infection, but the symptoms would be less severe,” Soriano noted the benefits of wearing masks in the fight against coronavirus.
The expert believes that the use of a mask can protect a person from severe forms of COVID-19.
Earlier, the head of the Department of Microbiology, Virology and Immunology at Sechenov University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vitaly Zverev said that gloves do not protect against coronavirus infection, but, on the contrary, are dangerous, as they contribute to infection with other diseases, from which the natural protection of hands protects.
