Claim 1: Masks don’t work!

The short answer is no, they work. Early in 2020, many scientists, including the UK’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, advised that masks were not effective at reducing Covid transmission and that they even “trap the virus”, increasing your chances of catching Covid. This was based on an understanding that Covid spreads through larger droplets (defined as greater than 5 – 10 μm), which circulates in the air for a short period of time, before falling on the ground and other surfaces. The so-called “droplet dogma” of Covid transmission justified the preponderance of public health measures such as 2m physical distancing, hand-washing and surface cleaning, as opposed to mask-wearing.

However, 2 years on, scientific evidence has moved on. We now know that particularly indoors or in poorly ventilated spaces, Covid is much more likely to spread through smaller particles which travel in the air beyond 2m and can remain there for hours after an infectious person has left the space. This makes masks and ventilation an important and effective measure for reducing Covid transmission, with different levels of protection offered by different masks (in descending order – FFP3’s, FFP2’s/N95’s, surgical masks, cloth masks).

Claim 2: But I’m young, fit and vaccinated/boosted.

The Covid vaccines are highly effective at reducing risks of deaths and hospitalisations from a Covid infection, but they are not so great at reducing transmission. This means that you can still pass Covid onto someone else even if you are vaccinated. Data for the delta variant show that 12 weeks after vaccination, your risk of transmitting Covid to someone else is similar to that of an unvaccinated person.

This means that any approach to the pandemic which relies on vaccines alone is doomed to fail – an approach which balances vaccination with mitigations to reduce spread of the virus remains as important as ever.

Claim 3: Omicron is “mild” or “milder” than other variants.

No, Omicron is not intrinsically “mild”, it’s just different. It replicates 10 times more slowly in the lungs than previous variants, meaning that it is less likely to cause pneumonia. In the UK, we are also seeing fewer hospitalisations and deaths than previous waves because of relatively high vaccine coverage. However, Omicron is much more transmissible than previous variants, meaning that it can still cause hospitalisations and deaths in a large proportion of the population if a large number of people get infected.

Claim 4: I find it hard to breathe with a mask on.

Sure, mask-wearing takes a bit of getting used to. But if you find a comfortable, well-fitted mask, trust me, you’ll soon forget that you’re even wearing one.