The world is more than its seventh month of lockdown and restrictions brought up by the Novel coronavirus pandemic that proves fatal against a person's health and wellness. The global pandemic resulted in a worldwide requirement of wearables such as face masks, face shields, and even personal protective equipment in some cases.
Researchers and doctors now produce a theory that puts face masks as the leading answer to the Coronavirus problem that the world faces. The New England Journal of Medicine recently contained the commentaries of doctors and experts in the field of medicine, saying that face masks not only shield from certain viruses but also give Immunity for the human body.
According to The Telegraph's report, researchers and experts argue that sporting universal face masks can reduce the virus's effect on the body and its severity. The wearing of a face mask, while not providing full Immunity, may help in reducing the body's infection and lead to asymptomatic cases.
The wearing of face masks can significantly help the government and its struggle to create vaccines, providing a secondary immunity against the virus while waiting for the appropriate shots that may ward the virus against the body.
The theory is still unproven, and experts on the medical field even argue its validity. However, although the face mask is known to filter out the most harmful substances and viruses, its protection is still not guaranteed to provide a-hundred-percent protection for the body.
Face Masks: How will it give Immunity?
WHEATON, MARYLAND - APRIL 16: Customers wear face masks to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus as they line up to enter a Costco Wholesale store April 16, 2020 in Wheaton, Maryland. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan ordered that all people must wear some kind of face mask to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 when on public transportation, grocery stores, retail establishments and other places where social distancing is not always possible. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The experts who argue at the New England Journal of Medicine presents significant reasonings and findings that directly complements the face masks as Immunity boosting objects against viruses, particularly the Coronavirus or COVID-19.
Face Masks filter out various viruses and diseases; however, it does not offer full protection. This means that certain particles can still penetrate beyond the mask and reach a person by entering through the mouth or nose.
The viruses that penetrate the mask have their "infectious dose" lessened and may be easily combatted by the body's immune system. The infectious dose is the amount of virus or its number needed to infect a person. Insufficiency may not trigger the virus' chain infection effect and may effectively combat the virus.
The Immunity talked about by medical experts suggests that wearing face masks may help introduce the virus to the body in lower infectious doses compared to the ones that infect directly. This 'indirect introduction' to the virus may help the body get to know the virus and fight it once it comes at a more massive dose.
This phenomenon will also result in asymptomatic positive cases of COVID-19, meaning, the person is infected by the virus but will not pose grave or life-threatening risks.
Will Face Masks Be Enough To Substitute Vaccines?
WUHAN, CHINA - JANUARY 22: People wear face masks as they wait at Hankou Railway Station on January 22, 2020 in Wuhan, China. A new infectious coronavirus known as "2019-nCoV" was discovered in Wuhan last week. Health officials stepped up efforts to contain the spread of the pneumonia-like disease which medical experts confirmed can be passed from human to human. Cases have been reported in other countries including the United States,Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. It is reported that Wuhan will suspend all public transportation at 10 AM on January 23, 2020. (Photo by Getty Images)
Face masks being introduced as means of Immunity may lead people to believe that vaccines would no longer be needed. However, the theory's implications are just a precursor, and initial measure to be widely used until an approved vaccine comes to the market.
The theory further strengthens the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendations and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding the mandatory use of face masks, may it be cloth or surgical variants with three layers of protection.
For now, Face Masks are still the recommended type of protection for the citizens who need to be out in public, being the barrier against foreign substances that will enter the body.
