Masks and Social Distancing Work

Zach Rathner

Health

10th June 2020

social distancing protocols will help lower the spread of COVID-19 (Getty Images)

The Claim

Wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing protocols will help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

News posted on

Emerging story

Despite what many say, a new study published in the Lancet provides evidence that wearing face masks and maintaining the recommended six feet of social distance between individuals does lower the risk of spreading COVID-19.

Misbar’s Analysis

Results found in a study led by a group of international scientists showed that guidelines that suggest wearing a face mask and maintaining social distancing protocols will help lower the spread of COVID-19.

The results looked at 172 studies conducted in 16 countries that examined the link between social distancing, wearing masks, wearing eye protection, and the risk of transmitting COVID-19 between individuals.

The study found that keeping a distance of three feet lowered the risk of transmission to 2.6%, while maintaining a distance of six feet reduced the risk to an additional 50%. The study also found that by wearing a face mask lowered the risk of catching COVID-19 to 3%, while wearing eye protecting lowered the risk to 5.5%.

In summary, while not a full-proof measure, the new study shows that adhering to guidelines that suggest maintaining social distancing protocols and wearing proper face coverings will lower the chance of getting the infectious COVID-19. As such, we label the claim that wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing protocols will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 as “True”.