We need to stop talking about masks

Masks for the general public are a very small part of the infection equation for COVID-19. The vast majority of infections, up to 4/5ths occur in family clusters where a sick person infects members of the household that they are part of. This means of the R number, the scary aspect of the COVID-19 virus, of 2.3–2.4 most people will infect around 2 of their family members. And perhaps, 1 in 4 person will infect a stranger.

Why is this an issue? At the moment there is a lot of talk both in the media about whether the general public should be wearing masks when they are in public. It is being cited as one of the crucial factors in how Asian hubs such as South Korea have flattened their curve. However this is missing the crucial fact that they are told if symptomatic that they should head into dedicated fever clinics where they are assessed for COVID-19 and if infected are isolated from their family. This means they slice off 2 out of the R number of 2.3–2.4 leaving an R of 0.3–0.4. This number, while still not great, is not going to overwhelm any of the health systems in anything but the most rural locations. This is at odds with the advice in most western countries to remain at home for as long as possible with COVID-19 symptoms, which while preserving load in the hospital system, also places a huge infection risk on your family.

In addition to removing people from their homes, they also check for fever when people go into public and isolate potentially ill people. And when they do discover an infected person they quickly move to contact tracing and test everyone they have interacted with. These are the ways that Asian countries are tackling this epidemic.

Masks are vital for anyone who is taking on a huge viral load, such as health professionals or even high volume roles such as frontline transport or food workers. But for the general population masks are not a huge part of the equation and we need to make sure our political leaders don’t let us clutch onto this distraction when the focus needs to be on more and better testing and more space for isolation.

And if you are symptomatic, please advocate for a test for yourself. By knowing your own status you can help protect your family from infection and prevent the further spread of COVID-19.