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Status: 10/19/2022 10:25 a.m
Because of the high number of new corona infections, the calls for a mask requirement indoors are getting louder and louder. But how effective do they protect against infection there? And how well do they help against the omicron variant?
By Alexander Steininger, tagesschau.de
It doesn’t take much for an infection with the corona virus: waiting at the supermarket checkout, talking to work colleagues or going to the restaurant or theater – a situation that everyone probably experiences almost every day. Because indoors, even at a distance of three meters, it often takes less than five minutes for an unvaccinated person to contract corona from a sick person. If you stand in the breathing air of the infected person, the probability of transmission is almost 100 percent – if both are not wearing a mask. A team from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Goettingen did it all in one study at the end of last year examined.
Masks protect better against omicron
The good news, however, is that masks protect you. “And not just effective,” says study author Gholamhossein Bagheri, “but extremely effective.” Accordingly, a well-fitting FFP2 mask can reduce the risk of infection by up to 99.9 percent for around 20 minutes. The numbers have been known for a long time, but were collected at a time when the delta variant of the coronavirus was the dominant variant. But what about the current, more contagious Omicron variant?
“The protection provided by masks is probably even better here than at Delta,” says Bagheri. Then recent observations indicate that at omicron most of the viral load is in larger particles. These are mainly produced in the upper respiratory tract – and can therefore be held back very efficiently with face masks.
Surgical masks also provide good protection
It cannot yet be said with certainty whether simple surgical masks also provide better protection against omicrons. What is certain is that the surgical masks primarily keep out larger droplets, but reach their limits with smaller aerosols. Nevertheless: “If both wear well-fitted surgical masks, the virus will be transmitted within 20 minutes with a maximum probability of ten percent,” says the study by the Max Planck Institute.
Christian Brandt from the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology also emphasizes that surgical masks make a noticeable difference in transmission: “It’s incredibly beneficial.” However, the simple mask above all offers protection from others – so I protect others if I am infectious. The self-protection is higher with the FFP2 mask if it is worn correctly. When worn correctly, it is particularly important that the nose clip is pressed firmly, as this is where most aerosols can escape.
how close And how much is spoken?
According to Brandt, it also makes a difference where exactly and under what circumstances people meet indoors. “The central question is: How close and how long are they together? And how much is spoken?” At work or at events, the contact is usually a little closer and there is more talk than in the supermarket, for example. In the near field, an FFP2 mask offers better protection. However, if there is a greater distance and little communication, surgical masks would also offer good protection.
Both scientists therefore advocate a mask requirement indoors if the number of cases continues to rise. However, Brandt emphasizes that these must be handled with a sense of proportion and that schools, for example, should be exempt from this. In addition, a surgical mask would be sufficient in most places. Bagheri, however, finds clearer words: “There is actually no argument against wearing a mask. Firstly, it is very easy to implement and people are already used to it. And secondly, it is an extremely efficient way of preventing transmission and thus high numbers of infections.”
Many associations for mask duty
They are not alone in this: Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, the hospital company, the doctors’ union Marburger Bund or the Association of Medical Officers – they are all committed to making masks compulsory indoors when the incidences are rising sharply, as is currently the case. They warn, with different priorities, that the health system and clinics will be overloaded.
Unlike in past pandemic years, this is not so much about the intensive care units, but about the high occupancy rates in the normal wards, the numerous staff shortages and a workforce that, after more than two years in a state of emergency, no longer has the strength for another winter under extreme conditions. “The hospital staff is not doing well. Not only is the mood extremely bad, but many have to work overtime now,” says Gerald Gass, CEO of the German Hospital Association.
Public health officer Johannes Nießen makes another argument: “As soon as the incidence climbs above 1000, we also have to consider making masks compulsory for bars, gastronomy and restaurants. Then we actually have an incidence of 3000.” And last but not least, experts warn of increased long-Covid cases, which can occur when the number of infections is high.
Alleyways against compulsory masks
Andreas Gassen, Chairman of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, counters that with a vaccination rate of over 80 percent and many vaccinated people who have also survived an infection, there is no need to wear a mask. The situation is completely different than in the past two years. Germany is “fortunately far away from an overload of the health system,” he told the “Berliner Morgenpost” at the weekend. Corona is no longer a threatening disease for the “overwhelming number of people in Germany and is therefore more of a general risk to life”. And Long Covid is “not a mass phenomenon”.
Like at the beginning of the pandemic
Hygienist Brandt has only limited understanding for Gassen’s argument that high-risk patients can wear masks for their own protection. Because if the person who is speaking is infectious and is not wearing a mask, the risk for the people around him increases noticeably. “You can reduce your individual risk, but not to zero,” says Brandt. A multi-barrier system is most effective, i.e. if the virus has to overcome two obstacles.
It is now a matter of relieving the health system so that planned surgeries do not have to be postponed because the wards are full, says Brandt. “Now it’s a bit like at the beginning of the pandemic. The motto is: Flatten the curve.” And masks could be an important building block.