Face masks are AS effective as social distancing despite Matt Hancock’s advice, expert claims
A leading scientist has rejected Health Secretary Matt Hancock's advice that face masks aren't helpful in tackling the virus.
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University of San Francisco data scientists Jeremy Howard, who recently led a global review panel on the effectiveness of masks, said face masks are critical to fight COVID-19.
He told : "The evidence does not show at all what (Mr Hancock) claimed."
"It actually looks a lot like (face masks) could be one of our most important tools."
Mr Hancock said earlier this week the government had made the right decisions on face masks, he said: "If they don't help, then it doesn't improve the national effort to tackle the virus."
Mr Howard said wearing face masks was not ignoring advice from the World Health Organisation top people.
He quoted the WHO's main adviser David Heymann who said "I think wearing a mask is equally effective or more effective than distancing."
Mr Howard added: "Even the people that the WHO are meant to be getting advice from are telling them this is perhaps the most critical tool in the toolbox."
A report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said masks were particularly helpful for infectious people who did not have symptoms.
It said: "Medical face masks are recommended as a means of source control for persons who are symptomatic in order to prevent the spread of respiratory droplets produced by coughing or sneezing."
It added: "A face mask may help reduce the spread of infection in the community by minimising the excretion of respiratory droplets from infected individuals who may not even know they are infected."
Mr Howard compared the death rate of London, where the majority of people are not wearing masks, to Taiwan, where masks have been distributed across the nation.
"In London, at this time of year there's normally about a thousand deaths a week.
"And this year at the moment there's around 2,500 deaths per week. So regardless of how you look at it... there's an extra 1,500 deaths a week due to this disease."
He said throughout Taiwan there had only been five deaths: "Here's an example of a great country that is distributing masks to everybody."
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Mr Howard tweeted earlier this week that the scientific evidence was clear on face masks.
He wrote: "Most scientific evidence points in the same direction: keep your droplets to yourself - wear a mask.
"Our team's review of the literature found substantial evidence in favour of widespread mask use to reduce community transmission."
"The key insight is that most discussions assume that the purpose of the mask is to protect the wearer, since this is what all doctors learn about in medical school.
"But actually masks work far better at blocking the infection at the source. This is called ‘source control’.”
Mr Howard is not alone in his support of face masks, Professor Benjamin Cowling from Hong Kong University agreed it could help slow the spread.
Prof Cowling said: “If face masks are used on a lot of people in crowded areas, I think it would have some effect on public transmission, and at the moment we’re looking for every small measure we can to reduce transmission - it adds up.”
The WHO put out advice against wearing face masks, not because they did not necessarily give people any protection, but because they created a "false sense of security" and reduced crucial stocks for health care workers.
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