Efficiency and Burdens of Wearing Masks for Protection Against Sars-Cov-2: A Narrative Review Focused on the Current Situation at Workplaces Volume 7 - Issue 4

Jürgen Bünger*, Eike Maximilian Marek, Vera van Kampen and Thomas Brüning

• ¹Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance - Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany

Received: March 11, 2022   Published: March 18, 2022

Corresponding author: Jürgen Bünger, Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance - Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, 44789 Bochum, Germany

DOI: 10.32474/RRHOAJ.2022.07.000266

Fulltext PDF

To view the Full Article   Peer-reviewed Article PDF

At workplaces, many additional conditions and influences must be considered when choosing adequate personal protection equipment, including masks to protect from SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission to other workmates. Conditions like type, proximity and duration of contact with colleagues, duration of mask wear, virus load, heat, humidity must be included for the risk analysis and decision if a mask is needed and if yes, what kind of mask is the best choice. A good scientific knowledge on the efficiency and burden of protection against SARS-CoV-2 by wearing masks is useful as an additional fundamental prerequisite for this decision. Depending on the type of mask, respiratory masks can be effective for both self-protection and protection of others (Asadi et al. [1], Chu et al. [2], Leung et al. [3], Liang et al. [4]). Jefferson and colleagues presented the state of knowledge on the effectiveness of masks in preventing the transmission of respiratory viruses until 2020 in a comprehensive literature review. The knowledge gained in the meantime (01.01.2022) will be briefly supplemented here. However, the main concern of this overview is the evaluation of the current scientific data on possible objective and subjective strains and stresses caused by wearing masks at rest and under different working (exercising) conditions.

Keywords: Respiratory Masks; COVID-19; ADAMTS13

Abstract| Efficiency of protective masks| Objective and subjective physical loads and strains| Cognitive function| Conclusion| References|