New York. After the arrival of the Kovid epidemic in the world, there is a vigorous debate on the effectiveness of the masks and social distancing measures being used to avoid it.
A new study suggests that instead of adopting social distancing, masks can reduce the risk of infection with air-borne germs.
Researchers from the University of Central Florida (UCF) found that face masks reduce the movement of microbes in the air, which may be higher when speaking or coughing in the air than when not wearing a mask.
The findings, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, said that airborne viral pathogens, such as the covid virus, are spread and transmitted through liquid droplets and aerosols produced during human respiratory actions such as speaking and coughing.
Knowing how to reduce the distance of bacteria and viruses in the air can help keep people safe and go a long way in combating pandemics like COVID-19.
These modalities may include easing of guidelines to reduce social distancing by wearing a mask.
Karim Ahmed, associate professor in UCF’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, said the research provides clear evidence and guidelines that a distance of three feet with a mask covering the mouth is better than a distance of six feet without a mask.
In this, researchers tried to learn how liquids move through air. In this, the researchers measured the distance in all the directions that the droplets travel from the mouths of people who speak and cough.
The study involved 14 people, 11 men and 3 women, aged between 21 and 31.
In this, all participants were asked to speak and cough for five minutes without covering their mouth, wearing a cloth mask and wearing a surgical mask in three stages.
The researchers found that when speaking or coughing without a mask, droplets of fluid coming out of the mouth are able to travel up to four feet in all directions, and a cloth mask reduces this low emission by about two feet.
Safety was seen to be greater when wearing a surgical mask, with droplets of fluid released when coughing or speaking were found to be only half a foot away. (IANS)
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