Mandatory in certain global regions to limit the spread of COVID-19, face masks could be here to stay, even after the pandemic subsides. In fact, new research from the US indicates that face masks, together with other COVID-19 precautions, may have led to a dramatic decrease in rates of common respiratory viral infections, such as colds and flu.
A team of researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) have investigated the impact of the precautions used to halt the pandemic on common respiratory illnesses, other than COVID-19. To do so, they performed a retrospective cohort analysis of all the respiratory viral infections documented (among inpatients and outpatients) at BMC at certain periods between 1 January 2015 and 25 November 2020. Positive and negative results for SARS-CoV-2 tests were excluded from the study to focus on other common respiratory illnesses.
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