A brand new form of face masks is rising in South Korea, and it has spurred questions as to how helpful it truly is to battle the unfold of COVID-19.
The masks, which has been seen on Twitter, covers simply the nostril and was created as a software to make consuming and consuming in public safer. Some masks are offered as simply the nostril piece, designed to be worn beneath an everyday masks, whereas others include a removable piece of material that may cowl the mouth as properly and will be taken off when consuming.
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The masks had been dubbed a "kosk," a mix of the phrase ko—the Korean phrase for nostril—and masks. The brand new masks have been launched by an organization referred to as Atman and are at present being offered for 9,800 received, or $8.13.
The masks have drawn consideration on-line, as customers on Twitter have commented that the thought of a "nostril masks" appears "foolish".
"Masking simply the nostril will make no distinction to catching something," stated one Twitter consumer. One other stated, "This nostril masks is not obligatory."
Dr. Stuart Ray, a professor of medication at Johns Hopkins College, informed Newsweek that he was uncertain a masks like this might defend the wearer from COVID-19.
"I would really like for this to work as a result of I sorely miss assorted eating experiences, however I severely doubt that a masks masking solely the nostril would [make] eating secure within the context of excessive COVID-19 transmission charges," Ray stated. "With out compelling proof, I'm not assured it could scale back threat a lot in any respect, until individuals have been rigorously skilled and monitored to breathe nasally whereas consuming – which appears each unlikely and unsustainable."
Ray added that there's proof to recommend that "virus-containing aerosols would be capable to journey by way of air whether or not touring by means of nasal or oral passages."
Professor Catherine Bennett, chair in Epidemiology at Deakin College's Institute for Well being Transformation, informed Australia's 9 Information that the thought was unusual, however altogether not a horrible concept.
"It in all probability makes a marginal distinction," Bennett stated, and shared that she felt it could be almost certainly be "higher than nothing."
There can be different elements to think about, nonetheless. Individuals consuming and speaking can be respiration by means of their mouths as an alternative of their noses anyway, stated Bennett. Individuals may also be much less more likely to cowl their mouths again up after they have been completed.
Nostril masks aren't only a means for individuals to get round carrying a full masks although, as some research have steered that viruses usually use nasal passages as the simplest route into the physique.
Dr. Richard Boucher, a professor of medication on the College of North Carolina College of Drugs and co-author of a research of how COVID spreads by means of the nasal passages and the respiratory tract, steered that any masks, sprays, or therapeutic methods to assist defend the nostril have been useful in heading off COVID-19.
"If the nostril is the dominant preliminary web site from which lung infections are seeded, then the widespread use of masks to guard the nasal passages, in addition to any therapeutic methods that scale back virus within the nostril, corresponding to nasal irrigation or antiviral nasal sprays, may very well be useful," stated Boucher.
Within the final two weeks, South Korea has recorded a complete of 194,711 COVID-19 instances and recorded a report of twenty-two,907 on Thursday alone, after first hitting 20,000 instances in in the future on Wednesday.
Replace 2/3/22 2:26 PM ET - This story has been up to date with a remark from Dr. Stuart Ray of Johns Hopkins College.
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