A new study by the Norway Institute of Public Health (FHI) shows that masks do have a protective effect on preventing respiratory infections. The findings were published three days ago in the prestigious medical journal BMJ.
The Norway Institute of Public Health wrote: "Previous international studies have shown that there appears to be an association between masks and protection against respiratory infections, but most of these studies are too small to provide conclusive answers." ”
Now, researchers at the Norway Institute of Public Health recruited 4,647 adults across Norway from February 10 to April 27 last year for a large-scale study. Half of those enrolled in the study were asked to wear a mask in crowded places outside their homes for 14 days, and the other half did not wear a mask.
The results showed that fewer people in the mask-wearing group got sick. During the study, 8.9% of participants who wore masks developed symptoms of respiratory infections, compared to 12.2% in the control group.
The Norway study confirms the previous results of Sweden scientists that masks can intercept droplets (scientists from four universities in Sweden have found that masks can intercept droplets but leak air after two years of research).
For the new crown issue that everyone is most concerned about. In the study, 21 people in the control group and the mask group reported that they were positive for the new crown antigen or nucleic acid, and there was no statistical difference between the two groups. According to data from the Norway Infectious Disease Testing System, 37 people in the control group were tested for the new crown, of which 2 were positive, while 32 people in the mask group had been tested for the new crown, and no one was positive. Due to the lack of positive events in the mask group, the effect and 95% confidence interval could not be calculated.
Both the Sweden Agricultural University and the Denmark Public Health Agency recently found that the amount of coronavirus in local sewage has been increasing over the past few weeks and has surpassed last summer's levels.
Magnus Gisslén, Sweden's chief epidemiologist, told the media: "We are now monitoring about 300 cases a week, and this number has been stable for the past three weeks. Sweden now mainly does COVID testing in facilities such as nursing homes.
Five days earlier, India reported the death of another 14-year-old boy from Nipah virus infection. It is a zoonotic virus that spreads mainly through contact with infected animals, but it can also be transmitted from person to person. Symptoms of infection include fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting, and sore throat, and progression can lead to severe respiratory infections and fatal encephalitis, which has a high mortality rate. There is currently no specific treatment or vaccine for Nipah virus. In order to avoid the spread of the virus. The India government has asked people near the affected areas to wear masks and avoid visiting patients in hospitals.