Parida Swayam Pragyan, Bhatia Vikas, Roy Adrija
Department of Community Medicine and Family Medicine, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 Oct 30;9(10):5122-5126. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_657_20. eCollection 2020 Oct.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused the world to undergo an unprecedented change in a short period. Personal protective equipment such as the face mask or face cover has become a daily necessity. Moreover, since some states and countries have made the use of face covers or face masks compulsory, one cannot ignore or afford to have a wrong or incomplete awareness about face masks. Current information suggests that the two main routes of transmission of the COVID-19 virus are respiratory droplets and contact. This article aims to review the existing information and highlight the need for the use of face masks or face covers to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and promote and provide necessary recommendations. Many countries have implemented or recommended mask wearing in the community, but recommendation for rational use of masks is being issued, as the crisis and shortage for masks are universally existing. The use of different types of masks has been assigned according to the risk of exposure and should be therefore judiciously used. As this is a novel disease, the guidelines are changing every day and one needs to be updated with correct information so that one can protect themselves and their families from this extreme level of the crisis faced by the world now. The use of face covers or masks should not be discouraged as there has been substantial evidence that its use can help reduce the spread of infection. "Mass masking" along with hand hygiene and social distancing are the only effective recommended measures to prevent the spread of the disease.
冠状病毒（COVID-19）大流行使世界在短时间内经历了前所未有的变化。口罩或面罩等个人防护装备已成为日常必需品。此外，由于一些州和国家已强制要求使用面罩或口罩，人们不能忽视或对口罩有错误或不完整的认识。目前的信息表明，COVID-19病毒的两个主要传播途径是呼吸道飞沫和接触传播。本文旨在回顾现有信息，强调使用口罩或面罩来抗击COVID-19大流行的必要性，并提出并提供必要的建议。许多国家已在社区实施或建议佩戴口罩，但由于口罩危机和短缺普遍存在，关于合理使用口罩的建议正在发布。根据暴露风险分配了不同类型口罩的使用，因此应谨慎使用。由于这是一种新型疾病，指导方针每天都在变化，人们需要更新正确的信息，以便保护自己和家人免受世界目前面临的这种极端危机的影响。不应劝阻使用面罩或口罩，因为有大量证据表明其使用有助于减少感染传播。“大规模戴口罩”与手部卫生和社交距离是预防疾病传播的唯一有效推荐措施。
