id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-283555-pgel6i3y	Chan, Tak Kwong	Universal masking for COVID-19: evidence, ethics and recommendations	2020-05-26		.txt	text/plain	3007	185	59	► There is no shortage of mechanistic evidence and observational studies that affirmed the benefits of wearing a face mask in the community, which should drive urgent public health policy while we await the results of further research. 1 There is limited clinical evidence that wearing a disposable face mask, enhancing hand hygiene practice or social distancing can reduce transmission of respiratory viral infections in the community, 2 3 although there is mechanistic basis for these measures to work. I aim to provide further clarification of the evidence and ethics on this issue (which can provide grounds alternative and/or supplementary to the precautionary principle applied by Greenhalgh et al) and make a plea to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and policy makers to reformulate current recommendations with a view to enhancing the practice of wearing a face mask in the community. While social distancing and hand washing form the main recommendations, there is no shortage of mechanistic evidence and observational studies that affirmed the benefits of wearing a face mask in the community.	./cache/cord-283555-pgel6i3y.txt	./txt/cord-283555-pgel6i3y.txt