id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-332512-28utunid	Eikenberry, Steffen E.	To mask or not to mask: Modeling the potential for face mask use by the general public to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic	2020-04-11		.txt	text/plain	6691	294	46	Model simulations, using data relevant to COVID-19 dynamics in the US states of New York and Washington, suggest that broad adoption of even relatively ineffective face masks may meaningfully reduce community transmission of COVID-19 and decrease peak hospitalizations and deaths. Moreover, mask use decreases the effective transmission rate in nearly linear proportion to the product of mask effectiveness (as a fraction of potentially infectious contacts blocked) and coverage rate (as a fraction of the general population), while the impact on epidemiologic outcomes (death, hospitalizations) is highly nonlinear, indicating masks could synergize with other non-pharmaceutical measures. In summary, the benefit to routine face mask use by the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain, but our initial mathematical modeling work suggests a possible strong potential benefit to near universal adoption of even weakly effective homemade masks that may synergize with, not replace, other control and mitigation measures.	./cache/cord-332512-28utunid.txt	./txt/cord-332512-28utunid.txt