scholarly journals Examining the interplay between face mask usage, asymptomatic transmission, and social distancing on the spread of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Catching ◽  
Sara Capponi ◽  
Ming Te Yeh ◽  
Simone Bianco ◽  
Raul Andino
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Viral Spread ◽  
The Face ◽  
Asymptomatic Individuals ◽  
High Virus

AbstractCOVID-19’s high virus transmission rates have caused a pandemic that is exacerbated by the high rates of asymptomatic and presymptomatic infections. These factors suggest that face masks and social distance could be paramount in containing the pandemic. We examined the efficacy of each measure and the combination of both measures using an agent-based model within a closed space that approximated real-life interactions. By explicitly considering different fractions of asymptomatic individuals, as well as a realistic hypothesis of face masks protection during inhaling and exhaling, our simulations demonstrate that a synergistic use of face masks and social distancing is the most effective intervention to curb the infection spread. To control the pandemic, our models suggest that high adherence to social distance is necessary to curb the spread of the disease, and that wearing face masks provides optimal protection even if only a small portion of the population comply with social distance. Finally, the face mask effectiveness in curbing the viral spread is not reduced if a large fraction of population is asymptomatic. Our findings have important implications for policies that dictate the reopening of social gatherings.

scholarly journals Examining the Interplay between Face Mask Usage, Asymptomatic Transmission, and Social Distancing on the Spread of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Catching ◽  
Sara Capponi ◽  
Ming Te Yeh ◽  
Simone Bianco ◽  
Raul Andino
Keyword(s):  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Agent Based Modeling ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Worldwide Population ◽  
Asymptomatic Individuals ◽  
High Virus

AbstractThe COVID-19 global crisis is facilitated by high virus transmission rates and high percentages of asymptomatic and presymptomatic infected individuals. Containing the pandemic hinged on combinations of social distancing and face mask use. Here we examine the efficacy of these measures, using an agent-based modeling approach that evaluates face masks and social distancing in realistic confined spaces scenarios. By explicitly considering different fractions of asymptomatic individuals, as well as a realistic hypothesis of face mask protection during inhaling and exhaling, we find that face masks are more effective than social distancing in curbing the infection. Importantly, combining face masks with even moderate social distancing provides optimal protection. The finding that widespread usage of face masks limits COVID-19 outbreaks can inform policies to reopening of social functions.Author summaryThe COVID-19 outbreak has created an enormous burden on the worldwide population. Among the various ways of preventing the spread of the virus, face masks have been proposed as a main way of reducing transmission. Yet, the interplay between the usage of face mask and other forms of Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention is still not completely clear. In this paper we introduce a stochastic individual-based model which aims at producing realistic scenarios of disease spread when mask wearing with different inward and outward efficacy and social distancing are enforced. The model elucidates the conditions which make the two forms of intervention synergistic in preventing the spread of the disease.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and Face Mask Use: A St. Kitts Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (T1) ◽  
pp. 346-352
Author(s):  
Yulia Kungurova ◽  
Ritha Mera ◽  
Evelyn Brewster ◽  
Khalil Ali ◽  
Adegbenro O.J. Fakoya
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Viral Spread ◽  
Surgical Masks ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Face

BACKGROUND: Mask wearing in the COVID-19 pandemic was previously hypothesized as a protective symbol that decreases compliance with other measures such as face touching and social distancing. However, the face mask is now central to the prevention of viral spread. AIM: In this paper, we looked at the shift of guidelines regarding mask use and the mask-wearing adherence habits of the Kittitian population at the onset of the pandemic. METHODS: In this study, we observed 468 individuals, each for 5 min, for the different types of face masks used and their adherence to the Center for Disease Control guidelines for the use of this personal protective equipment. We did the observation at three different locations at Basseterre, St. Kitts, from the 21st to April 30, 2020. RESULTS: We noted that 49.31% had medical-grade masks (N95 and surgical), 36.11% had improvised masks, and 14.74% had no facial covering. About 34% of persons with masks were not correctly covering their nose or mouth and 16.45% were touching their face with their hands. Wearing any face-covering appears to lead to more face touching than no covering at 18.25% versus 5.8%. The highest proportion of errors was seen in wearers of surgical masks, leaving the mouth/ nose uncovered at 12.08% of all errors. CONCLUSION: We recommend for public education and political efforts to increase adherence to mask use in conjunction with other protective measures such as social distancing and hand washing for curbing the COVID-19 transmission in St. Kitts and Nevis.

scholarly journals Face Mask and Social Distancing Detection Using ML Technique

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (VII) ◽  
pp. 3218-3222
Author(s):  
S. Alshifa
Keyword(s):  
Face Detection ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Cascade Algorithm ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Main Motive ◽  
The Face ◽  
Haar Cascade

Detecting Mask and Social Distance is our main motive in this project.Face detection plays important roles in detecting face mask. Face detection means detecting or searching for a face in an image or video. For face and mask detection we use viola jones algorithm or Haar cascade algorithm using Open CV. For social distancing we use YOLO algorithm. We have created a system which detect the face and then, it will detect nose and mouth to confirm that the person wear mask or not.

scholarly journals Realtime Face-Mask Detection on Raspberry Kit

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 2076-2083
Author(s):  
Kalyan Chakravarthi. M
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Recognition System ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Life Problems ◽  
Promising Area ◽  
The Face

Abstract: Recognition from faces is a popular and significant technology in recent years. Face alterations and the presence of different masks make it too much challenging. In the real-world, when a person is uncooperative with the systems such as in video surveillance then masking is further common scenarios. For these masks, current face recognition performance degrades. Still, difficulties created by masks are usually disregarded. Face recognition is a promising area of applied computer vision . This technique is used to recognize a face or identify a person automatically from given images. In our daily life activates like, in a passport checking, smart door, access control, voter verification, criminal investigation, and many other purposes face recognition is widely used to authenticate a person correctly and automatically. Face recognition has gained much attention as a unique, reliable biometric recognition technology that makes it most popular than any other biometric technique likes password, pin, fingerprint, etc. Many of the governments across the world also interested in the face recognition system to secure public places such as parks, airports, bus stations, and railway stations, etc. Face recognition is one of the well-studied real-life problems. Excellent progress has been done against face recognition technology throughout the last years. The primary concern to this work is about facial masks, and especially to enhance the recognition accuracy of different masked faces. A feasible approach has been proposed that consists of first detecting the facial regions. The occluded face detection problem has been approached using Cascaded Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). Besides, its performance has been also evaluated within excessive facial masks and found attractive outcomes. Finally, a correlative study also made here for a better understanding.

scholarly journals Effect of Face Masks on Interpersonal Communication During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nour Mheidly ◽  
Mohamad Y. Fares ◽  
Hussein Zalzale ◽  
Jawad Fares
Keyword(s):  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Face

Interpersonal communication has been severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Protective measures, such as social distancing and face masks, are essential to mitigate efforts against the virus, but pose challenges on daily face-to-face communication. Face masks, particularly, muffle sounds and cover facial expressions that ease comprehension during live communication. Here, we explore the role of facial expressions in communication and we highlight how the face mask can hinder interpersonal connection. In addition, we offer coping strategies and skills that can ease communication with face masks as we navigate the current and any future pandemic.

scholarly journals An Integrated Approach for Monitoring Social Distancing and Face Mask Detection Using Stacked ResNet-50 and YOLOv5

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (23) ◽  
pp. 2996
Author(s):  
Inderpreet Singh Walia ◽  
Deepika Kumar ◽  
Kaushal Sharma ◽  
Jude D. Hemanth ◽  
Daniela Elena Popescu
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Video Feed ◽  
Key Aspects

SARS-CoV-19 is one of the deadliest pandemics the world has witnessed, taking around 5,049,374 lives till now across worldwide and 459,873 in India. To limit its spread numerous countries have issued many safety measures. Though vaccines are available now, still face mask detection and maintain social distance are the key aspects to prevent from this pandemic. Therefore, authors have proposed a real-time surveillance system that would take the input video feed and check whether the people detected in the video are wearing a mask, this research further monitors the humans for social distancing norms. The proposed methodology involves taking input from a CCTV feed and detecting humans in the frame, using YOLOv5. These detected faces are then processed using Stacked ResNet-50 for classification whether the person is wearing a mask or not, meanwhile, DBSCAN has been used to detect proximities within the persons detected.

scholarly journals Viral dispersion in open air

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Trombini Machado ◽  
Claudia Ramos de Carvalho Pinto ◽  
Luisa Andrea Villanueva da Fonseca ◽  
Taissa Cristina dos Santos Ramos ◽  
Tuanny Fernanda Pereira Paggi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Transmission Rate ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Viral Transmission ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Petri Dishes

ABSTRACTThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has revived the debate about the routes of virus transmission and their likelihoods. It is of utmost importance to assess the risks of contamination of susceptible people by infectious individuals and to evaluate the level of viral transmission in the community. Most countries have imposed non-pharmaceutical measures to contain SARS-CoV-2 transmission, including social distancing and mask wearing. Here we evaluated the spreading of viruses in open air using harmless Escherichia coli bacteriophages as a surrogate. Phages were sprayed towards Petri dishes seeded with bacteria at different lengths and angles. Median droplets size was 127 µm, similar to those produced by sneeze. Our results showed that the transmission rate decreased exponentially with distance. The highest recorded transmission rate was 9 × 10−6 PFU/plate when phages were sprayed from a 1 m distance, suggesting that the probability of transmission of a single virus at a 1 m distance is 1:100,000. These results agree with the WHO recommendation that face mask protection in an uncrowded well-ventilated space is not required.

scholarly journals Do University Students Adhere to WHO Guidelines on Proper Use of Face Masks during the COVID-19 Pandemic?—Analysis and Comparison of Medical and Non-Medical Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4536
Author(s):  
Marta Szepietowska ◽  
Piotr K. Krajewski ◽  
Łukasz Matusiak ◽  
Rafał Białynicki-Birula ◽  
Jacek C. Szepietowski
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Who Guidelines ◽  
Human Virus ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Common ◽  
Skin Conditions ◽  
General Compliance

Covering the mouth and nose has become the common standard for protection from human-to-human virus transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study was to investigate whether students at universities (medical and non-medical students) do adhere to WHO recommendations on the proper use of face protection. The study was based on the survey created with Google® Forms regarding data on demographics and self-reported skin conditions. The main questions addressed the WHO guideline on the correct use of face masks. Responses were obtained from 1173 students. Compliance with all WHO criteria among the whole group of respondents was very low at less than 1% with no significant difference between medical and non-medical students. Covering of the nose and mouth with the face mask was the criterion most commonly complied with (81.2%); contact avoidance of touching the mask with hands appeared to be the most difficult criterion to comply with (2.8%). Medical students were significantly more compliant with three out of seven criteria. In general, compliance with the WHO guidelines on the proper use of face masks was dramatically low among all the students. Education campaigns should be introduced to increase the awareness of the correct use of face coverings during the viral pandemic.

scholarly journals Estimating the COVID-19 Death Toll by Considering the Time-Dependent Effects of Various Pandemic Restrictions

Mathematics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1628
Author(s):  
Hoang Pham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
The United States ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Death Toll ◽  
Johns Hopkins University ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face

COVID-19, known as Coronavirus disease 2019, is caused by a coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. As coronavirus restrictions ease and cause changes to social and business activities around the world, and in the United States in particular, including social distancing, reopening states, reopening schools, and the face mask mandates, COVID-19 outbreaks are on the rise in many states across the United States and several other countries around the world. The United States recorded more than 1.9 million new infections in July, which is nearly 36 percent of the more than 5.4 million cases reported nationwide since the pandemic began, including more than 170,000 deaths from the disease, according to data from Johns Hopkins University as of 16 August 2020. In April 2020, the author of this paper presented a model to estimate the number of deaths related to COVID-19, which assumed that there would be no significant change in the COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines in the coming days. This paper, which presents the evolved version of the previous model published in April, discusses a new explicit mathematical model that considers the time-dependent effects of various pandemic restrictions and changes related to COVID-19, such as reopening states, social distancing, reopening schools, and face mask mandates in communities, along with a set of selected indicators, including the COVID-19 recovered cases and daily new cases. We analyzed and compared the modeling results to two recent models based on several model selection criteria. The model could predict the death toll related to the COVID-19 virus in the United States and worldwide based on the data available from Worldometer. The results show the proposed model fit the data significantly better for the United States and worldwide COVID-19 data that were available on 16 August 2020. The results show very encouraging predictability that reflected the time-dependent effects of various pandemic restrictions for the proposed model. The proposed model predicted that the total number of U.S. deaths could reach 208,375 by 1 October 2020, with a possible range of approximately 199,265 to 217,480 deaths based on data available on 16 August 2020. The model also projected that the death toll could reach 233,840 by 1 November 2020, with a possible range of 220,170 to 247,500 American deaths. The modeling result could serve as a baseline to help decision-makers to create a scientific framework to quantify their guidelines related to COVID-19 affairs. The model predicted that the death toll worldwide related to COVID-19 virus could reach 977,625 by 1 October 2020, with a possible range of approximately 910,820 to 1,044,430 deaths worldwide based on data available on 16 August 2020. It also predicted that the global death toll would reach nearly 1,131,000 by 1 November 2020, with a possible range of 1,030,765 to 1,231,175 deaths. The proposed model also predicted that the global death toll could reach 1.47 million deaths worldwide as a result of the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19. We plan to apply or refine the proposed model in the near future to further study the COVID-19 death tolls for India and Brazil, where the two countries currently have the second and third highest total COVID-19 cases after the United States.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Implementation of Personal Protective Behaviors and the Interventions Made in Fighting Against COVID-19 Through the View of a University Staff

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. E202122
Author(s):  
İnci Arıkan ◽  
Barış Kılıç Demir
Keyword(s):  
Health Education ◽  
Treatment Process ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
University Staff ◽  
Protective Behaviors ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Face ◽  
Personal Protective Behaviors ◽  
Made In

The objective of this study was to evaluate the application status of Personal Protective Behaviors (PPB) in the fight against COVID-19 among the employees of an institution and the interventions that may be effective for maintaining PPB. Materials and Methods. In this descriptive study, the interviews were made with each participant to answer the structured questions. In the interviews, we questioned whether PPB were applied correctly and which interventions could be effective in maintaining PPB. Results. PPB were correctly applied by more than half of 101 people who participated in the study. When considering the distribution of responses to which interventions to maintain PPB were effective, the first three places were arranged as follows: education, coercion-punishment and treatment/death of a relative due to COVID-19. The face mask use and compliance with social distancing were found to be the most important and applied PPB. Conclusions. The participants stated that health education models should be used at the beginning of different intervention types and supported with fines and restrictions, if necessary. In addition, the positive detection of COVID-19 in the close environment and the experience of the treatment process were found to be effective in taking precautions.

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