COVID-19 rules are going. So why wear a mask?
Whether you wear one is up to you, but people at risk are still vulnerable.
COVID-19 restrictions and requirements are winding down across Australia, and anyone who tests positive is no longer required to isolate.
It is one of the last COVID-19 rules to wind down after two years of restrictions.
Masks are quickly disappearing from our streets, buses, trains, and shopping centres. But have you noticed that those still wearing masks are older people?
Do they know something others do not?
Are they still protected if others are not wearing one?
Masks are still required in hospitals, healthcare facilities, indoor areas and for anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 or is a close contact.
In most states, masks are also required in correctional facilities and justice centres.
Most experts say wearing a mask is still considerably better than nothing, especially when the infector [the person with COVID-19] is wearing one.
This is because wearing a mask should markedly reduce the number of larger droplets they expel.
Some experts say this is one of the strongest justifications for requiring everyone in the population to wear a mask, particularly indoors, where most transmission occurs.
A review of population-wide studies found that if everyone in the population wears a mask, the overall infectiousness of COVID-19 reduces by about 15-20 per cent.
But that is unlikely to happen as governments go the other way.
The finer the mask fibre and the better the fit, the better the mask works.
N95 masks are recommended as they can even filter very small aerosol particles.
Any mask that does not fit properly does not offer a good level of protection. Air can still pass between the mask and your skin so fewer virus particles are filtered out.
Two experts recently commented on whether they still wear masks where required.
They said they did this for healthcare and aged care settings.
Monash University's School of Public Health, James Trauer: "I kept my mask wearing up a bit longer than most because I wanted to ensure I was practising what I was preaching."
Deakin University Professor and Chair in Epidemiology at the School of Health and Social Development Dr Catherine Bennett said she still wore N95 masks on planes or public transport and a surgical mask in busy indoor settings.
"I'll often wear the mask as I walk into a shop or venue, then decide whether to keep it on depending on the number of people, the size of the place and ceiling height, and the airflow.
"If small and stuffy, I'll keep my mask on even if there are not many people around.
"I haven't had COVID-19, so it's working for me so far.
For further reading: ABC
