Wearing surgical masks in public could help slow COVID-19 pandemic’s advance

Surgical masks may help prevent infected people from making others sick with seasonal viruses, including coronaviruses, according to new research. In laboratory experiments, the masks significantly reduced the amounts of various airborne viruses coming from infected patients, measured using the breath-capturing ‘Gesundheit II machine’ developed by Dr. Don Milton, professor in the University of Maryland School of Public Health and a senior author of the study published April 3 in the journal Nature Medicine.