The Practice of Wearing Surgical Masks during the COVID-19 Pandemic

摘要

To the Editor: We read with interest the metaanalysis conducted by Xiao et al. (1) that found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of surgical masks in the community, based on 10 randomized controlled trials. Nevertheless, mechanistic studies found that surgical masks could prevent transmission of human coronavirus and influenza virus infections if worn by infected persons (2). The authors pointed out the limitations of their study: small sample size and suboptimal adherence in the mask-wearer group (1). Recommendations on masks in the community vary across countries during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic (3); studies have reported mixed results .