Exterior chinstrap: are they really necessary?

I am vaccinated and am outside, do I really need to wear a mask? If I am running and am not with many people, do I need a mask? If I walk down the street and meet someone, do I have to put on my mask? As the percentage of people vaccinated gradually increases, These are some of the questions facing a growing number of the population.

“If you’re vaccinated, I would say, for the most part, you don’t need to wear a mask outside,” the doctor said. Sanjay Gupta, American health doctor, on TV show New day.

It’s because it is known that most viral transmissions do not occur outdoors. A November review in the Journal of Infectious Diseases found this the chances of viral transmission are 18.7 times higher indoors than outdoors, Yes Less than 10% of the COVID-19 infections studied occurred in open spaces.

Nooshin Razani, one of the authors and associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California at San Francisco, he told the magazine Slate that the actual number of externally transmitted cases was “probably less” than 10%.

The current guide to Centers for Disaster Control and Prevention (CDC) specifies that outdoor masks may not be necessary. “Masks may not be necessary when you are alone outside, away from other people or with people who live in your home ”, they say.

However, recently the director of the CDC, the famous North American doctor Rochelle Walensky, held that the agency plans to revise its mask guide. “We will look at the issue of wearing face masks outdoors, but also in the context of the fact that we still have people dying from COVID-19 ″, insured in the program Today of NBC.

To use or not to use a mask outdoors?

As with most discussions of COVID-19, the evidence on whether to wear masks outdoors is not black and white and should be based on a variety of factors, such as immunization status and community transmission rates.

In order to Linsey Marr, expert in airborne virus transmission in Virginia Tech, “If you’re vaccinated and you’re not in a vulnerable category, it’s probably okay not to wear a mask outside.” For the unvaccinated, Marr rrecommend masks in situations where people are clustered close to each other, like in a bar, a crowd or a line. “If you are not vaccinated and are constantly passing people close enough that you can reach and touch them, then you should wear a mask,” he added.

According to the specialist, viral particles they disperse quickly in the outside air and the risk of inhalation of aerosol viruses by a runner or spectators is negligible. “Even if a person coughs or sneezes outside as they pass,” he continued, “the chances that we receive a dose large enough of the virus to infect us remain low.”

Marr United States a simple two-in-three rule to decide when to wear a mask in public spaces or when you don’t know everyone’s immunization status. In these situations, make sure to meet two of the following three conditions: exterior, far, and obscured. “If you are outside, you must be distanced or masked. If you are not outside you must be distant Yes mask. This is how I have lived for a year. It all comes down to my two out of three rule, ”he explained.

“Vaccinated or not, an important factor in deciding whether or not to use an outdoor mask is levels of transmission and positivity in the area ”, He said Gupta. He added: “The real question you should try to answer is: How likely are they to breathe someone else’s air?“.

If we have to stop to have a prolonged conversation with someone who is not vaccinated, masks are recommended. Even in the open air the risk of breathing other people’s air increases the closer we get to them. One of the few documented cases Out-of-home transmission occurred in China at the start of the pandemic, when a 27-year-old man stopped to chat outside with a friend. who had just returned from Wuhan, where the virus comes from. Seven days later, he had his first symptoms of COVID-19.

And even Masks are recommended if we are in a crowd outside. Stand side by side with strangers for an outdoor concert or event this could increase the risk, especially for unvaccinated people. Recently, while walking without a mask, the doctor Marr He said he always made an effort to stay away from large groups when the trail was congested.

“If I came across a lonely hiker, I wasn’t worried,” he admitted. “But if I passed a group of 10 hikers in a row, I would go further off the trail. The risk is still low, but at some point there might be a group of people large enough that the risk becomes appreciable. “

Walk the dog, ride a bike, walk a trail, or have a picnic with vaccinated family members or friends son activities in which the risk of exposure to the virus is negligible. “I believe that it’s too much to ask people to put on the mask when they go for a walk, jog or cycle ”, underlined in dialogue with The New York Times the doctor Muge Cevik, clinical professor of infectious diseases and medical virology at the St. Andrews University School of Medicine in Scotland, where the use of exterior masks has never been required. “We are at a different stage of the pandemic. I think that IOutdoor masks shouldn’t have been mandatory at all. This is not where infection and transmission occur. “

To understand how low the risk of transmission is outdoors, researchers from Italy They have used mathematical models to calculate the time it would take for a person to be infected outside in Milan. They imagined a grim scenario in which 10% of the population was infected with the coronavirus. His calculations showed that if a person avoided crowds, it would take an average of 31.5 days of continuous exposure outdoors inhale a dose of virus sufficient to transmit the infection.

“The results show that this risk is negligible in the outside air if crowds and direct contact between people are avoided ”, Indian Daniele Contini, lead author of the study and aerosol researcher at Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences in Lecce, Italy.

Cevik Note that debates over outdoor masking and articles showing photos of crowded beaches during the pandemic have left people with the false impression that parks and beaches are unsafe and they are distracted from the much greater risks of indoor broadcasting. Often, indoor activities associated with outdoor enjoyment, such as traveling unmasked in a subway or car for a hike, or going to a pub after spending time on the beach, pose the highest risk.

As more people get vaccinated, decisions to go outdoors without a mask will become easier. Although no vaccine offers 100% protection, the rate of rupture infections so far has been extremely low. The CDC recently reported only 5,800 cases of infections among 75 million people vaccinated. And they ensured that vaccinated friends and family could spend time together safely, without masks.

same As more and more infectious virus variants circulate, the physics of viral transmission to the outside has not changed and the risk of infection to the outside remains low, virus experts say. However, it is vitally important to pay attention to the infection rates in each community. If the number of cases increases, the risk of meeting an infected person increases.

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