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Preprint

High efficacy of face masks explained by characteristic regimes of airborne SARS-CoV-2 virus abundance

MPS-Authors
/persons/resource/persons127588

Cheng,  Yafang
Multiphase Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons230413

Andreae,  Meinrat O.
Multiphase Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons101189

Pöschl,  Ulrich
Multiphase Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons101295

Su,  Hang
Multiphase Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Max Planck Society;

External Resource

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.10.20190348v3.full.pdf
(Preprint)

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Citation

Cheng, Y., Ma, N., Witt, C., Rapp, S., Wild, P., Andreae, M. O., et al. (2021). High efficacy of face masks explained by characteristic regimes of airborne SARS-CoV-2 virus abundance. doi:10.1101/2020.09.10.20190348.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0008-2003-0
Abstract
Airborne transmission by droplets and aerosols is important for the spread of viruses and face masks are a well-established preventive measure, but their effectiveness for mitigating COVID-19 is still under debate. We show that variations in mask efficacy can be explained by different regimes of virus abundance. For SARS-CoV-2, the virus load of infectious individuals can vary by orders of magnitude, but we find that most environments and contacts are in a virus-limited regime where simple surgical masks are highly effective on individual and population-average levels, whereas more advanced masks and other protective equipment are required in potentially virus-rich indoor environments such as medical centers and hospitals. Due to synergistic effects, masks are particularly effective in combination with other preventive measures like ventilation and distancing.