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Researcher: study mentioned by Van Dissel is unclear about the use of mouth masks

The study that Jaap van Dissel of the RIVM cited yesterday to illustrate that there is no evidence that a national mouth mask obligation works, does not clarify this. It could well be that such an obligation does have a positive effect in certain situations, says Norwegian researcher Bjørn Iversen who did the study.

The cabinet decided yesterday that there will be no national mouth mask obligation. The Outbreak Management Team (OMT) sees no reason to require the wearing of non-medical mouth masks. “There is simply no scientific evidence for this,” said Van Dissel.

He cited a study from a Norwegian institute on the effectiveness of wearing face masks. “To illustrate: 200,000 people must wear a face mask for at least a week to avoid perhaps one infection.”

However, according to researcher Iversen, no conclusions can be drawn about the usefulness of mouth masks on the basis of his study. The researchers looked at all existing studies on face masks and saw that the results are very different. “Some show a risk reduction of six percent, others of eighty percent.”

Weak estimate

The Norwegian’s most recent estimate is that in the Norwegian situation, which he believes is fairly similar to the Dutch, 75,000 people have to wear a mouth mask for a week to prevent one infection. “But that’s a loose, weak estimate. We just don’t know the effect of face masks.”

It is therefore not possible to draw the conclusion that a mouth mask obligation does not work. “The effectiveness depends very much on the epidemic situation in a country,” says Iversen. “It is up to each country to determine the situation and make recommendations.”

Iversen would recommend masks in countries with major outbreaks, such as Belgium. And in places where keeping at least a meter away from others is not possible. “Although keeping a distance is much more important than wearing a mask.”

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