Face masks could be giving people Covid-19 immunity, researchers suggest

[catbyte]

Mask wearing might also be reducing the severity of the virus and ensuring that a greater proportion of new infections are asymptomatic

By Georgina Hayes

Face masks may be inadvertently giving people Covid-19 immunity and making them get less sick from the virus, academics have suggested in one of the most respected medical journals in the world.

The commentary, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, advances the unproven but promising theory that universal face mask wearing might be helping to reduce the severity of the virus and ensuring that a greater proportion of new infections are asymptomatic.

If this hypothesis is borne out, the academics argue, then universal mask-wearing could become a form of variolation (inoculation) that would generate immunity and “thereby slow the spread of the virus in the United States and elsewhere” as the world awaits a vaccine.

It comes as increasing evidence suggests that the amount of virus someone is exposed to at the start of infection - the “infectious dose” - may determine the severity of their illness. Indeed, a large study published in the Lancet last month found that “viral load at diagnosis” was an “independent predictor of mortality” in hospital patients.

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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/face-masks-could-giving-people-covid-19-immunity-researchers/

[Sherman A1]

1. Perhaps I should forward the link

to My "Esteemed" Governor Do Nothing Parsons in Missouri.

but it probably has too many words for his sorry backside.

[PSPS]

2. They're referring to "universal mask-wearing" - impossible with trump's constant misinformation

[Timewas]

3. Yep

That entire concept assumes that everyone wears a mask and washes hands correctly and at al times.. Not gonna happen in the t-rump USA

[Initech]

17. I'm getting really sick of commercials using the phrase "we're all in this together".

No, we're not all in this together. Some of us are clearly not.

[safeinOhio]

4. Makes more sense

than drinking bleach.

[Disaffected]

5. Fine, it works for exhalation but

what about inhalation i.e. what protection for yourself is provided?

[mnhtnbb]

6. That's why the 6 ft distancing is recommended.

Think about yourself in any of those situations being 6 ft away from the other person.

[Disaffected]

7. OK but one would think

the masks, especially surgical or N95s would provide at least some protection for the wearer as well(?).

[moonscape]

8. My non-medical opinion is yes, that it's

also all about viral load. That's the reason to get in and out of grocery stores, etc as quickly as possible.

[Disaffected]

11. Agreed, and

I wish we could hear more about viral load and its effects - maybe the data is just not here yet. I actually wish (sorta) for a mild case so a degree of immunity could be established in the absence of a vaccine.

I too get in and out of stores ASAP and use curbside pickup whenever possible (most of the larger stores have it here but not all).

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Check This Out

It's from earlier today, here in GD.
There's a link to the Telegraph in the OP.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100214129819

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Studies Confirm That

Too lazy to go through my posts. But there was a thread last week, or maybe week before, that showed the effectiveness of masks, of different types, in both directions. It was percentages of protection for:
Infected person unmasked, me unmasked;
Infected person masked, me unmasked;
Infected person unmasked, me masked.
Both with masks.
The last 2 categories showed clear benefit to the wearer with regard to the virus.

[Disaffected]

12. Thank you for that.

[obamanut2012]

20. They do

[Ms. Toad]

15. Masks also protect the wearer.

The many unfortunate misstatements earlier about masks have taken on a life of their own.

People bought into the well-intended lie that masks don't work - which morphed into an equally insidious half-truth that masks protect others. The evidence has been around nearly from the beginning (especially if you look at practices in other countries) that masks do protect - and they protect both the wearer and others.

https://www.ucdavis.edu/coronavirus/news/your-mask-cuts-own-risk-65-percent/

https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/cloth-masks-do-protect-the-wearer-breathing-in-less-coronavirus-means-you

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/07/418181/one-more-reason-wear-mask-youll-get-less-sick-covid-19

[Klaralven]

19. Also, they keep the wearer from touching their face, and they signal others to keep away

Wear glasses too -- Could wearing glasses lower the risk of COVID-19?

https://www.livescience.com/covid-19-glasses-protection.html

[Ms. Toad]

21. I think the transmission via the eyes is theoretical at this point -

But the fact that we know most transmission comes via nasal inhalation of aerosolized droplets doesn't stop me from wearing my mask over my mouth - or from being careful not to touch public surfaces.

I wear glasses - but since wearing them full time is a later (long-resisted) acquisition, as my focal point moved farther and farther away from my eyes (making my arms way too short to hold anything I could actually read) it would have been quite a leap for me to start wearing them just for COVID. It took me close to a decade to move from wearing them just for reading to wearing them all the time.

[FakeNoose]

10. Most of us cannot purchase the N95 surgical masks

... but we were supposed to 5 masks for free back in April.

Amazon will not sell N95 masks to customers are aren't EMS or medical professionals.

[Disaffected]

13. N95s

I was lucky enough to have had two fresh N95s on hand at the outbreak (purchased last year at Home Depot for dust allergies).

IMO it is borderline scandalous that they are still not available to the general public (north or south of the 49th). How the hell hard can it be to make a lot of them?

[FakeNoose]

18. They're making them, just not selling to us

Only medical professionals, EMS personnel, firefighters and such, they're the only ones who can purchase them. The rest of us can pound salt.

[Initech]

16. Whatever gets us closer to getting this god forsaken virus out of here, I am all for it!

[Pluvious]

22. Other reports on this theory...

( from a friend )

I saw a longer article in that vein a couple of weeks ago. The idea being that mask wearers may be exposed to low levels of virus multiple times over the course of months, enough to trigger the immune system, but not enough to make a person sick. If the person gets exposed enough times to lower virus levels, they build up the same immunity as someone who had a full-blown case. That's the speculation of how that might work, but there hasn't been enough study to confirm.

An anecdotal example is from a cruise ship quarantined with covid this past spring. The crew were supplied with N95s; the passengers with surgical masks. 80% of infections on that ship were asymptomatic. On another ship quarantined at the same time, one with no mask mandate, only 20% of infections were asymptomatic.

Theoretically, we could achieve this mythical "herd immunity" if everyone just wore a gd mask!