ArticleScientific reports2021
Slight reduction in SARS-CoV-2 exposure viral load due to masking results in a significant reduction in transmission with widespread implementation.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Masks and respirators for prevention of respiratory infections: a state of the science review.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 transmission: rapid review of evidence from Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Transmission of mutated SARS-CoV-2 variants is favored by relatively prolonged infections due to delayed immunity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Clinical trial simulation of antiviral drugs.Journal of virology · 2026Review
- Viral Dynamic Models During COVID-19: Are We Ready for the Next Pandemic?CPT: pharmacometrics & systems pharmacology · 2025Review
- Comment to: Face mask use and viral load in patients with mild symptoms of COVID-19.Einstein (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2025Article
- Efficacy of facemasks in preventing transmission of COVID-19 in non-healthcare settings: A scoping review.Journal of infection prevention · 2024Article
- COVID-19: did the masks work?Future microbiology · 2024Article
- Analysis of the risk and pre-emptive control of viral outbreaks accounting for within-host dynamics: SARS-CoV-2 as a case study.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Modelling the viral dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variants in different cell types.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2023Article
- The effect of shortening the quarantine period and lifting the indoor mask mandate on the spread of COVID-19: a mathematical modeling approach.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Education and COVID-19 excess mortality.Economics and human biology · 2022Article
- Quantitative Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Levels in Cancer Patients Post Three Doses of Immunization and Prior to Breakthrough COVID-19 Infections.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2022Article
- Identifiability of parameters in mathematical models of SARS-CoV-2 infections in humans.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Multi-scale modelling reveals that early super-spreader events are a likely contributor to novel variant predominance.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2022Article
- Determinants of SARS-CoV-2 Contagiousness in Household Contacts of Symptomatic Adult Index Cases.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Going Back to Normal, But How? Re-opening Policies and the Standards for a New Normal.Turkish journal of medical sciences · 2021Review
- Article
- Changes in in-hospital mortality in the first wave of COVID-19: a multicentre prospective observational cohort study using the WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol UK.The Lancet. Respiratory medicine · 2021Observational
- Timing HIV infection with a simple and accurate population viral dynamics model.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Masks are a vital tool for limiting SARS-CoV-2 spread in the population. Here we utilize a mathematical model to assess the impact of masking on transmission within individual transmission pairs and at the population level. Our model quantitatively links mask efficacy to reductions in viral load and subsequent transmission risk. Our results reinforce that the use of masks by both a potential transmitter and exposed person substantially reduces the probability of successful transmission, even if masks only lower exposure viral load by ~ 50%. Slight increases in mask adherence and/or efficacy above current levels would reduce the effective reproductive number (R
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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.