International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | January 2021 | Vol 8 | Issue 1 Page 453 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Narayanan V. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2021 Jan;8(1):453-457 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Review Article The mask dilemma: unmasking the myths and facts Varsha Narayanan* INTRODUCTION With the coronavirus (COVID) pandemic spreading its fangs globally since the beginning of 2020, wearing a mask has become an integral part of the attire of most people. It has been interesting to see and discern different kinds of responses to wearing masks. Large populations in most affected countries have prioritized being protected from Coronavirus infection by wearing masks. However there have also been sections voicing concerns over the adverse health impact of prolonged mask wearing, while other groups questioning the actual benefit and impact of masks in protection and limiting spread. 1 Several countries have resorted to periodic lockdowns, isolating containment zones, applying travel and social restrictions, as well as limiting activities of close contact. However, all these cannot be sustainable measures, and the economical downside has been devastating for many. Scaling up testing, as well as health facilities has been done to impressive levels in many areas with further need for financial, technical and manpower support resources. Currently at a practical individual and community level, in the absence of mass vaccination for COVID being available, the three cornerstones of protection and prevention are social distancing, hand sanitization and wearing masks. 2 Maintaining a distance in public of 2 meter ideally (at least >1 meter) has been accepted as the global social distancing norm, and use of routine handwashes/soaps or 70% alcohol-based sanitizers are recommended for frequent use especially before touching parts of the face. 3 However, with masks, there is immense variability with respect to materials, duration and conditions of use, comfort level, compliance to proper wearing and socio-cultural diversity. 1 SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE SUPPORTING WEARING OF MASKS Wearing masks in public places has been made mandatory by the health authorities of many countries and by World Health Organization (WHO) by June 2020. 4 However earlier evidence is available of the effectiveness of mask wear as seen in the study from China in February 2020, where the secondary attack rate in families decreased to ABSTRACT Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has been spreading across the globe in 2020 with most countries being affected significantly in terms of the number of infected cases, morbidity and mortality, as well as health care and economic burden. Currently the most important individual and community measures for curtailing disease transmission are social distancing, hand sanitization and wearing of masks in public. It is important to advocate wearing masks in an effective and balanced manner and dispense supportive scientific evidence as well as practical guidelines and information in the community. Till the event of mass vaccination for COVID being available, improving the awareness, compliance and acceptance of the people towards proper wearing of a face mask when in public places, can be the most effective way for several countries to control transmission of COVID. Keywords: COVID, Masks, Community spread, Social distancing, Pandemic Department of Family Medicine and Holistic Health, Dr Varsha’s Health Solutions, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Received: 18 November 2020 Accepted: 01 December 2020 *Correspondence: Dr. Varsha Narayanan, E-mail: info@drvarsha.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20205419