texas a&m study: face masks critical in preventing spread of covid-19a study led by dr renyi zhang estimates that the measure prevented more than 66 000 infections in new york city in less than a monthjun 15 2020passengers wearing face masks ride the subway on april 28 2020 in new york city researchers esetimate that more than 66 000 infections were prevented by using a face mask in little over a month in new york city (photo: getty images)a study by a team of researchers led by a texas a&m university professor has found that not wearing a face mask dramatically increases a persons chances of being infected by the covid-19 virus dr renyi zhang texas a&m distinguished professor in the department of atmospheric sciences and the harold j haynes chair in the college of geosciences and colleagues from the university of texas the university of california-san diego and the california institute of technology have had their work published in the current issue of pnas (proceedings of the national academy of sciences) the team examined the chances of covid-19 infection and how the virus is easily passed from person to person comparing trends and mitigation procedures in china italy and new york city the researchers found that using a face mask reduced the number of infections by more than 78 000 in italy from april 6-may 9 and by over 66 000 in new york city from april 17-may 9 our results clearly show that airborne transmission via respiratory aerosols represents the dominant route for the spread of covid-19 zhang said by analyzing the pandemic trends without face-covering using the statistical method and by projecting the trend we calculated that over 66 000 infections were prevented by using a face mask in little over a month in new york city we conclude that wearing a face mask in public corresponds to the most effective means to prevent inter-human transmission this inexpensive practice in conjunction with social distancing and other procedures is the most likely opportunity to stop the covid-19 pandemic our work also highlights that sound science is essential in decision-making for the current and future public health pandemics one of the papers co-authors dr mario molina is a professor at the university of california-san diego and a co-recipient of the 1995 nobel prize in chemistry for his role in understanding the threat to the earths ozone layer of man-made halocarbon gases our study establishes very clearly that using a face mask is not only useful to prevent infected coughing droplets from reaching uninfected persons but is also crucial for these uninfected persons to avoid breathing the minute atmospheric particles (aerosols) that infected people emit when talking and that can remain in the atmosphere tens of minutes and can travel tens of feet molina said zhang said that many people in china have worn face masks for years mainly because of the bad air quality of the country so people there are sort of used to this he said mandated face-covering helped china in containing the covid-19 outbreak zhang said the results should send a clear message to people worldwide – wearing a face mask is essential in fighting the virus our work suggests that the failure in containing the propagation of covid-19 pandemic worldwide is largely attributed to the unrecognized importance of airborne virus transmission he said social-distancing and washing our hands must continue but thats not sufficient enough protection wearing a face mask as well as practicing good hand hygiene and social distancing will greatly reduce the chances of anyone contracting the covid-19 virus the study was funded by the robert a welch foundation by keith randall texas a&m university division of marketing & communications