ArticleThe Journal of infection2020
The role of community-wide wearing of face mask for control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic due to SARS-CoV-2.
Article in The Journal of infection, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05162482 (Immunogenicity and Safety of Heterologous Combinations of COVID-19 Vaccines Available Under Emergency Use Authorization in Pakistan), which is not on this map. Cited by 378 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Immunogenicity and Safety of Heterologous Combinations of COVID-19 Vaccines Available Under Emergency Use Authorization in Pakistan: A Randomized Phase II Trial
Who cites it
378 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 925 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evidence of Face Masks and Masking Policies for the Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission and COVID-19 in Real-World Settings: A Systematic Literature Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of face masks for reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2: a rapid systematic review.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Managing hematological cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic: an ESMO-EHA Interdisciplinary Expert Consensus.ESMO open · 2022Guideline
- Efficacy and practice of facemask use in general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Medical Waste from COVID-19 Pandemic-A Systematic Review of Management and Environmental Impacts in Australia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Global Experiences of Community Responses to COVID-19: A Systematic Literature Review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Pooled it
- Systematic review of empirical studies comparing the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions against COVID-19.The Journal of infection · 2021Pooled it
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- Trial
- Intervening on Trust in Science to Reduce Belief in COVID-19 Misinformation and Increase COVID-19 Preventive Behavioral Intentions: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Trial
- Impact of immunization strategies, public health and social measures on the incidence of varicella among children aged 0-14 years in Quzhou City.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
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- Public satisfaction with COVID-19 policy responses and their implementation: a cross-sectional study.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
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- Urban pandemic governance personal protective equipment allocation strategies: a system dynamics simulation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Prevalence and correlates of facemask usage during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Influencing Factors on Students' Pedestrian Safety Behavior: A Descriptive Analytical Study.Bulletin of emergency and trauma · 2025Article
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- Assessing the instantaneous social dilemma on social distancing attitudes and vaccine behavior in disease control.Scientific reports · 2024Article
318 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFace mask usage by the healthy population in the community to reduce risk of transmission of respiratory viruses remains controversial. We assessed the effect of community-wide mask usage to control coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
methodsPatients presenting with respiratory symptoms at outpatient clinics or hospital wards were screened for COVID-19 per protocol. Epidemiological analysis was performed for confirmed cases, especially persons acquiring COVID-19 during mask-off and mask-on settings. The incidence of COVID-19 per million population in HKSAR with community-wide masking was compared to that of non-mask-wearing countries which are comparable with HKSAR in terms of population density, healthcare system, BCG vaccination and social distancing measures but not community-wide masking. Compliance of face mask usage in the HKSAR community was monitored.
findingsWithin first 100 days (31 December 2019 to 8 April 2020), 961 COVID-19 patients were diagnosed in HKSAR. The COVID-19 incidence in HKSAR (129.0 per million population) was significantly lower (p<0.001) than that of Spain (2983.2), Italy (2250.8), Germany (1241.5), France (1151.6), U.S. (1102.8), U.K. (831.5), Singapore (259.8), and South Korea (200.5). The compliance of face mask usage by HKSAR general public was 96.6% (range: 95.7% to 97.2%). We observed 11 COVID-19 clusters in recreational 'mask-off' settings compared to only 3 in workplace 'mask-on' settings (p = 0.036 by Chi square test of goodness-of-fit).
conclusionCommunity-wide mask wearing may contribute to the control of COVID-19 by reducing the amount of emission of infected saliva and respiratory droplets from individuals with subclinical or mild COVID-19.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.