Covid-19: should the public wear face masks?
Babak Javid, Michael P. Weekes, Nicholas J. Matheson
Abstract
When covid-19 became a global health emergency, there was a visible contrast between the responses of citizens in east Asia and the rest of the world.In east Asia, wearing of masks was ubiquitous, and sometimes mandated by governments.In Europe and North America, concerned citizens were repeatedly told that masks were not recommended for general use.Now, increasing numbers of agencies and governments, including the Czech Republic and the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention 1 are advocating that the general population wears masks, but others, such as the World Health Organization and Public Health England are not.In a linked article Greenhalgh and colleagues argue in support of the public wearing masks on the basis of the "precautionary principle" (doi:10.