How Much Protection Do Face Masks Provide Against Coronavirus?

Face Masks: How Much Protection Do They Offer Against Coronavirus? In the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, mask-wearing and maintaining distance are among the primary preventive measures to be taken in daily life. But how much protection do masks and distance rules actually provide against coronavirus? Fatma Tezcan, Senior Research and Development Specialist and Chemistry Engineer at Hifyber, which operates under Abalıoğlu Holding, shared with the public the findings of a study conducted by a team at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation in Göttingen, which investigated the risks of infection under different scenarios with and without masks and distance. According to the research results, people without masks can become infected within just a few minutes, even at three metres distance.

Infection Risks Investigated

During these days when we are waging an intensive fight to protect ourselves from coronavirus and its different variants, we know that mask-wearing and maintaining distance are among the most important measures to be taken. We also follow with interest the research of expert individuals and institutions on this subject. One such study comes from a team at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation in Göttingen. Fatma Tezcan, Senior Research and Development Specialist and Chemistry Engineer at Hifyber, shared the findings of a study that investigated the risks of infection under different scenarios with and without masks: "Experts who conduct detailed research on how masks protect under various usage conditions determine maximum infection risk while taking various factors into account. The research yields both good and bad news. According to the research results, people without masks can become infected within just a few minutes, even at three metres distance. The bad news is this: when two unvaccinated people meet, one of whom is infected, without masks and with three metres of social distance between them, the risk of the other person becoming infected at 100 percent takes less than 5 minutes. The good news, however, is that if both people wear surgical or better-protecting N95 masks, the risk of infection decreases significantly.

Proper Fit of the Mask Is Important

The Göttingen research confirms that FFP2 or N95 masks are effective at filtering infectious particles from inhaled air. The only point requiring attention here is that the mask fits the face properly. When two people meet and both are wearing N95 masks that fit the face properly, the maximum infection risk after 20 minutes is one in a thousand, even at the closest distance. If masks do not fit the face properly, the probability of infection risk rises to 4 percent.