No mate, not a shred. "In general, active room ventilation and the ubiquitous wearing of face masks (i.e., by all subjects) may reduce the individual infection risk by a factor of five to ten, similar to high-volume, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtering." https://www.scopus.com/record/displ...sk viral load)&relpos=9&citeCnt=0&searchTerm= DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17218114 " A mask documented to be loosely fitting by a PortaCount fit tester, to simulate how masks are worn by healthcare workers, blocked entry of 68.5% of total virus and 56.6% of infectious virus" https://www.scopus.com/record/displ...k viral load)&relpos=0&citeCnt=68&searchTerm= DOI: 10.1093/cid/cis237 "N95 mask was more effective than surgical mask in preventing expelled air leakage during patient's coughing but there was still significant sideway leakage to 15 cm." (Note - this is keeping doctors safe during aerosol generating procedures at a range of 15cm. Compare that to walking about at 2m...) https://www.scopus.com/record/displ...k viral load)&relpos=2&citeCnt=31&searchTerm= DOI: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2013.06.18 "Due to uncertainty of the main transmission routes, the infection control policies faced with more challenges. The possible main route of transmission is thought to be the close contact and respiratory droplets. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain physical distance and using the facemask" https://www.scopus.com/record/displ...k viral load)&relpos=10&citeCnt=0&searchTerm= DOI: 10.1016/j.nmni.2020.100778 "The method used in this study was to measure the change in relative humidity when wearing a mask, compared to no mask, in various scenarios, based on the assumption that as the virus is air-borne the smaller the increase in humidity the less the spread of the virus. The results above show that the use of a mask, excluding some simple home-made ones, significantly reduces the spread of humidity." https://www.scopus.com/record/displ...k viral load)&relpos=13&citeCnt=0&searchTerm= DOI: 10.1080/03091902.2020.1797198 "this review revealed that thorough hand washing with antiseptic soap and running water and usage of alcohol hand sanitizer, frequent surfaces cleaning, strict adherence to social distancing, regular respiratory hygiene, wearing of protective face masks, frequent testing, self-isolation, quarantine and rigorous contact tracing will help to prevent further spread, and control the transmission of the viral pathogen." https://www.scopus.com/record/displ...k viral load)&relpos=16&citeCnt=0&searchTerm= DOI: 10.18683/germs.2020.1208 "The use of face masks in public ... presumptively decreases the viralload and contributes to a favourable clinical outcome in COVID-19 disease." https://www.scopus.com/record/displ...k viral load)&relpos=18&citeCnt=0&searchTerm= DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a6290 "Some international studies have also demonstrated the efficacy of surgical masks in preventing respiratory virus transmission. For example, in 2008, a randomised, controlled clinical trial study from Australia showed that surgical masks had efficacious protective efficacy of over 80% against the transmission of respiratory viruses.6 In 2011, Jefferson et al7 found that wearing a mask or N95 respirator might reduce respiratory virus infection. More recently, researchers from South Korea studied four patients infected with COVID-19 and found that surgical masks helped prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and reduced the viral load of a cough.8" https://www.hkmj.org/abstracts/v26n3/267.htm DOI: 10.12809/hkmj208566 Not a shred. No evidence at all, particularly when compared to the magnificent scientific brains of Eric Clapton and Van Morrison.
I'm 40 with underlying healh issues, am a teacher with young children at a different school to me. Your recommendations?
I'm not in control of the country, but do what you're being asked and don't start complaining about it
I am and I can complain as teachers have been left in the lurch again. We're self isolating as a child in a form group has just tested positive even though we were told they weren't mixing together and we were told to keep sending children in last week. I know you know it but the Tories really are toss pots.
I'm 67 years old today, still working like a galley slave and am fit as a butcher's dog ( relatively speaking ). That said I do worry about the outcome if the missus or I ended up getting the virus.
It's really ridiculous. I have to stay in a box yet I would literally have to be in the wall to be 2m away. Kids told to wear masks in corridors etc but at least 10% don't and as usual senior leadership do bugger all.
