ReviewPreventive medicine2020
Universal masking during COVID-19 pandemic: Can textile engineering help public health? Narrative review of the evidence.
Review in Preventive medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Review of Filtration Performance of Protective Masks.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Effect of Prolonged Use of Different Facemasks on Their Physical Performance and Physiological Impact on the Wearer.Safety and health at work · 2025Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Two Years after the Start of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Study.Journal of nursing management · 2024Article
- Boosting Copper Biocidal Activity by Silver Decoration and Few-Layer Graphene in Coatings on Textile Fibers.Global challenges (Hoboken, NJ) · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of Inexpensive Cloth Facemasks and Their Amendments to Reduce Ambient Particulate Exposures: A Case of Kathmandu, Nepal.Journal of environmental and public health · 2023Article
- Compliance with the main preventive measures of COVID-19 in Spain: The role of knowledge, attitudes, practices, and risk perception.Transboundary and emerging diseases · 2022Article
- Polymersomes as virus-surrogate particles for evaluating the performance of air filter materials.Giant (Oxford, England) · 2022Article
- Nanomaterials to combat SARS-CoV-2: Strategies to prevent, diagnose and treat COVID-19.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Review
- Innovative Textiles Used in Face Masks: Filtration Efficiency and Self-Disinfecting Properties against Coronaviruses.Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Review
- Pyrolysis kinetic behaviour and TG-FTIR-GC-MS analysis of Coronavirus Face Masks.Journal of analytical and applied pyrolysis · 2021Article
- Mask-Related Glasses Fogging: A Predisposing Mechanism of Falls during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Case reports in orthopedics · 2021Article
- Historical Evolution and Filtering Characteristics of Masks and Respirators in Dentistry in the Context of COVID-19: A Literature Review.Journal of International Society of Preventive & Community DentistryReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 is spreading very quickly around the world. In less than 7 months since it became known to the international community, the virus has infected 18 million in more than 180 countries and killing more than 700,000 people. Person-to-person transmission through infected respiratory droplets from patients with symptoms and asymptomatic carriers is the main mode of spread in the community. There is currently no standard agreed upon drug to treat the disease and the prospect of having a safe and efficacious vaccine might be years away. Thus, public health interventions such as social distancing and hand washing have been introduced and has, to some extent, slowed the progression of the pandemic. Universal masking as a public health intervention is currently mandatory in a vast majority of countries around the world. To avoid personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage crisis for medical staff and other frontline workers, health authorities are recommending the use cloth masks. Although in theory, cloth masks can be helpful to limit the spread of the COVID-19, serious consideration should be given to the choice of textile, the number of layers of cloth used, pre-treatment of the material with water repellent material and other compounds that can enhance the filtration efficiency of the masks without compromising their breathability. This review uses concepts of textile engineering and the theoretical principles of filtration to make suggestions and recommendations to improve the quality and safety of cloth masks for the general public.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.