At the start of the pandemic, much of the Western world followed a similar playbook for tackling Covid-19.
Spikes in transmission were met with lockdowns; international travel was heavily restricted; and though domestic constraints frequently proved controversial, hygiene measures like social distancing, hand-washing and mask-wearing were strongly encouraged — if not legally mandated.
But those days are behind us. Pandemic management now differs widely from country to country — with the face mask just one example of the world’s increasingly fractured approach to Covid-19.
The science behind masks is fairly clear, and has only become more robust over the course of the pandemic. Studies have shown that masks significantly decrease the chances of transmitting coronavirus, and some types of masks can help prevent their wearers from catching the virus.
Pandemic management now differs widely from country to country — with the face mask just one example of the world’s increasingly fractured approach to Covid-19.
Different approaches
The first days of the pandemic saw early hesitance over the use of face masks from governments and the World Health Organization (WHO), amid fears that a rush for masks would leave frontline workers without enough protective equipment. But that as the world learned more about Covid-19, their use became commonplace by the middle of 2020.
“Masks help to filter out aerosol that is generated in our respiratory tract when we breathe or speak. (They) are most effective at filtering out larger aerosol particles and less effective at filtering out the smallest ones,” said Bryan Bzdek, research fellow at the University of Bristol’s Aerosol Research Centre, summarizing the scientific mechanism behind mask use.
“This is conceptually similar to driving a car when there are a lot of insects about — the large ones tend to impact against the windshield whereas the small ones follow the air flow around the car,” he said
