Shropshire Star comment: Jury still out on face masks for general public

There is so much we still do not know about coronavirus, and one of those things is how beneficial it would be if the general public all took to wearing face masks.

Experts agree that they are vital for front line health workers and those in close contact with the sick. And if you're already ill, they help stop you spreading your infection.

But the rest of us? The experts' jury is still out.

A professor is now claiming that if nine out of 10 of the general public wore home-made face masks, then Covid-19 transmission rates would be so reduced as to effectively wipe out the disease. Built into her calculation is that these face masks would be 80 to 90 per cent effective.

Yet the question of their effectiveness is at issue. Even if they were shown to be effective even in DIY form, a decision would then need to be made on whether wearing them should be compulsory, or voluntary.

As coronavirus is often talked about as being a war, there is a loose parallel in the wartime issuing of gas masks, which were supposed to be carried at all times. There were special masks for babies and infants. Thankfully there never was a gas attack on Britain. It is a lesson from history that if the will is there, it can be done.

There is, though, a difference. You only needed one gas mask. In 2020, we would need a constant and renewable supply of many millions of face masks, and if the public is taking its place in the supply chain, then it may make it even more difficult to keep up supplies to those front line workers who must have priority.

And there is no culture of wearing such things here, whereas in Asia some folk have been choosing to wear face masks for years. Making doing so compulsory in Britain might stretch the impressive public compliance so far to breaking point.

The government has repeatedly made a point that it is being guided by the scientific evidence. On face masks, we're still waiting for conclusive evidence.