A health expert has displayed how wearing a face mask could drastically reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus to others with some shocking images.
Dr. Rich Davis took to social media to share the results of an experiment he’d undertaken with those sceptical about the advice to wear a face mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Explaining how a face covering can prevent someone carrying the potentially deadly virus from passing it on, he wrote on Twitter, ‘What does a mask do? Blocks respiratory droplets coming from your mouth and throat.’
Sharing some photographs, Dr. Davis described how he had coughed, sneezed and breathed onto agar culture plates, first wearing a mask and then without wearing one.
The bacteria colonies were then allowed to grow, displaying how easily respiratory droplets are spread when a mask isn’t in the way.
He then carried out the same tests from varying distances, again showing that masks block almost all of the droplets.
‘First, I sneezed, sang, talked & coughed toward an agar culture plate with or without a mask. Bacteria colonies show where droplets landed. A mask blocks virtually all of them,’ he wrote.
‘Colonies of normal bacteria from my mouth/throat show the spread of large respiratory droplets, like the kind we think mostly spread #COVID19, and how a mask can block them.’
The medical pro went on to insist he feels we need to make wearing a mask as much of a common hygiene practice as washing our hands.
‘We wash hands after using the bathroom & wipe noses on tissues. Masks/face shields need to be just another normalized act of hygiene,’ he said.
This comes in light of the recent news that pubs and restaurants will re-open across the UK this weekend, with the current social distancing advice telling the public to remain at a minimum of one metre apart.
Meanwhile, it is still compulsory to wear a mask while using public transport.
