Introducing how mask-wearing creates confidence when taking the bus

Roe, Emma, Veal, Charlotte, Hurley, Paul and Wilks, Sandra (2021) Introducing how mask-wearing creates confidence when taking the bus

Abstract

The announcement[1] by Boris Johnson that Monday 19th July would mark the move to Step 4 of the Roadmap – when coronavirus regulations exercising restrictions on our daily lives, and crucially on our bodies, come to an end – has sparked conflicting and inflammatory debate. An object at the forefront of many of these discussions has been the face mask. Part of the shift in the government’s approach “from one of rules and regulations, to one of guidance and good sense”[2] is the end of the legal requirement in England to wear a face covering on public transport[3], in shops and in other indoor spaces[4].

While early public responses to the pandemic were preoccupied with hand hygiene[5], cleaning[6] and social distancing[7], mandatory face covering within indoor spaces appeared more slowly, partly as a result of empirical uncertainty about its effectiveness outside of clinical settings[8][9][10]. A year on, the science of the virus, how it spreads, and the role of face coverings in source control – reducing the exhalation of, and exposure to, potentially dangerous droplets and aerosols – has evolved significantly. SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs invisibly through the air when an infected person breathes out. Consequently, “an individual could potentially be infected when they inhale aerosols produced when an infected person exhales, speaks, shouts, sings, sneezes, or coughs”[11]. And while many of us may perceive the mask as a prophylactic barrier, shielding us from the virus and / or other people’s breath, its primary function is in fact the opposite – to protect those around us from our own exhalations.

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Contributors

Author: Emma Roe

Author: Paul Hurley

Author: Sandra Wilks

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