Delhi-based Rahul, 28, is an IT professional who is working from home for the past year. He stays in Noida with his wife and daughter and elderly parents. Both his parents have been staying indoors and taking utmost precautions. Rahul has only stepped out to buy essential groceries or run errands. Last week, both of Rahul’s parents tested positive for Covid-19. The family was surprised at the result. After all, both his parents had stayed indoors and had no contact with the outside world. Rahul’s daughter tested positive shortly and she was staying at home and attending online. So what could be the reason behind this phenomenon? Rahul in fact was Covid-19 positive but asymptomatic.
To avoid such incidents, India’s Covid-19 task force and NITI Ayog Dr V K Paul has said that the time has come to wear masks at home settings to break the chain of transmission. Dr VK Paul said, ‘If there is Covid-19 positive case in the family, it is very important that the person wears a mask even indoors because the virus can spread to others in the home. I would rather go on to say that the time has come that we start wearing a mask at home even otherwise’.
Why Wear A Mask At Home?
Masking at home is essential because of the way COVID-19 spreads. The virus spreads mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets. Respiratory droplets travel into the air when you cough, sneeze, talk, shout or sing. These droplets can then land in the mouths or noses of people who are near you or they may breathe these droplets in.
Masks are a simple barrier to help prevent your respiratory droplets from reaching others. Studies show that masks reduce the spray of droplets when worn over the nose and mouth. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says that several studies have found that people with COVID-19 who never develop symptoms (asymptomatic) and those who are not yet showing symptoms (pre-symptomatic) can still spread the virus to other people. Wearing a mask at home can protect people in case you are infected but not showing symptoms.
It is especially important to wear a mask when you are indoors with people you do not live with and when you are unable to stay at least 6 feet apart since COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact with one another.
Studies Which Support Efficacy Of Wearing Masks At Home
The government cited a study from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service to highlight why masking at home is important. Studies showed that there is a negligible risk of transmission when there is a distance of 6 feet between two persons and when both of them are wearing masks.
The risk is 1.5% (low) when both people are wearing masks, 5% (medium) when only the infected person is wearing a mask and uninfected persons are unmasked, 30% (high) if the infected person is not wearing a mask but the uninfected person is wearing one, and 90% (highest) when neither the infected nor the uninfected person is wearing a mask.
A study of Chinese families in Beijing has also accepted that wearing a mask at home is effective.
Wearing face masks at home might help ward off the spread of COVID-19 infection among family members living in the same household, but only before symptoms develop.
This practice was 79% effective at curbing transmission before symptoms emerged in the first person infected, but it wasn’t protective once symptoms had developed, the study shows.
The figures in China suggest that most of the person to person transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 infection, has occurred in families. But it’s not clear if the wearing of face masks might help curb household transmission rates, along with social distancing and disinfection.
Ministry of Health Guidelines For Handling Masks At Home
It is important to note that never share the face cover with anyone. Every member of the family should have a separate face cover.
Here are guidelines on how to remove and wash your mask after use:
1.Do not touch the front or any other surface of the face cover, remove it only with strings behind.
2. For string face cover, always untie the string below and then the string above.
3. After removal, immediately clean your hands with 65% alcohol-based hand sanitizer or with soap and water for 40 seconds.
4. Drop it directly into a soap solution or boiling water to which salt has been added.
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