BERLIN – The obligation to wear facemasks has considerably helped reducethe spread of the novel coronavirus infection in Germany, according to adiscussion paper published by four universities in Germany and Denmarkyesterday.
Comparing data from Jena, the first German city to make the wearing offacemasks mandatory, with other cities in the country, the paper found that thefacemask obligation had helped reduce the total number of registered COVID-19cases by between 2.3 percent and 13 percent within 10 days after itsintroduction.
Mandatory facemasks have "contributed to a slowdown in COVID-19development in Germany," the paper said, reducing the daily growth rate ofreported infections in Germany by around 40 percent.
The figure clearly showed a "gradually widening gap" in thecumulative number of COVID-19 cases between Jena and comparable cities withouta facemask obligation, according to the paper.
Twenty days after the introduction of the mask requirement in Jena, thetotal number of registered cases increased by only 16 instead of 62, which thepaper assumed would have been reported without the measure.
"Wearing facemasks is a very cost-efficient measure for fightingCOVID-19," according to the paper drafted by scientists from the Germanuniversities of Mainz, Darmstadt and Kassel, and from Sonderborg University inDenmark.
The scientists also called for "further systematic causal analysesof the different health measures implemented to fight the spread ofCOVID-19."
- Xinhua
