UCSF Dept of Medicine chair Bob Wachter, The Science and Politics of Masks in the Covid-19 Pandemic, 17 May 2020. Twitter:
If Professor De Kai's mind-blowing video doesn’t convince you of the virtue of mask wearing, I just don’t know what to tell you.
Wired magazine co-founder Jane Metcalfe, Twitter:
I love this video and look forward to opening the economy back up while simultaneously masking up and protecting the vulnerable.
Mayo Clinic professor of epidemiology & oncology Vincent Rajkumar, Twitter:
Towards the end of March, I was convinced that if EVERYONE wore a mask we can stop COVID... Read new study on urgent universal masking @VanityFair @Duncande @dekai123 Please wear a mask
Vanity Fair, If 80% of Americans Work Masks, COVID-19 Infections Would Plummet, New Study Says, 8 May 2020, by David Ewing Duncan:
“a very thorough model and well done,” said William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, who reviewed the De Kai team’s paper. “It supports a notion that I advocate along with most other infectious disease experts: that masks are very, very important.” Jeremy Howard, founding researcher at fast.ai and a distinguished research scientist at the University of San Francisco, also assessed the paper. “It’s almost overkill how careful they were with this modeling,” said Howard, who also coauthored and spearheaded a study last month (recently submitted to the journal PNAS) that reviewed dozens of papers assessing the effectiveness of masks.
Vox, Experts' 7 best ideas on how to beat Covid-19 and save the economy, 13 May 2020, by Matthew Yglesias:
“Wearing masks is really important for reducing coronavirus transmission. A study by a team of five researchers out of Hong Kong and several European universities calculates that if 80 percent of a population can be persuaded to don masks, that would cut transmission levels to one-twelfth of what you’d have in a mask-less society. Widespread use of masks is likely part of the reason Japan’s coronavirus outbreak has been mild thus far, and grassroots mobilization starting with masks is almost universally seen as part of the Hong Kong success story.”
South China Morning Post, Coronavirus spread would dramatically drop if 80% of a population wore masks, AI researcher says, 25 May 2020, by Elaine Ly.
New York Times, Is the Secret to Japan’s Virus Success Right in Front of Its Face?, 6 Jun 2020, by Motoko Rich.
De Kai, a professor of computer science and engineering at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has modeled the potential for mass mask-wearing to significantly reduce infections. While it may be possible to establish only correlation, not causation, he said, “if the downside is nothing, and the upside is huge, then you take the bet.”
MSNBC, White House Taking More Steps To Stop Coronavirus Spread In The West Wing | Deadline | MSNBC, 11 May 2020, Nicole Wallace with Dr. Vin Gupta.
ABC TV news - ABC3340, More scientific evidence points to masks preventing spread of COVID-19, 15 May 2020, by Cynthia Gould.
Fox News, Coronavirus infections would plunge if 80 percent of people wore masks, study says, 15 May 2020, by Chris Ciaccia.
NPR - Virginia Public Radio / VPM, Masks Mandated to Slow COVID - Do They Work? 5 Jun 2020, by Charles Fishburne.
The Jimmy Dore Show, Do Masks Really Protect Against Covid? 21 Jun 2020.
Forbes, New Study Shows That This One Thing Could Cause 80% Decrease In COVID-19 Cases, 12 May 2020, by Chris Westfall.
New York Magazine, Safe Exit: The Risk-Mitigation Guide to Life After Quarantine, 23 May 2020, by Jeff Wise.
The Economist, Masks probably slow the spread of covid-19, 28 May 2020.
Vox, Why 15 US states are suddenly making masks mandatory, 29 May 2020, by Lili Pike.
Two models in the preprint by De Kai and his co-authors show why requiring masks may make a difference. Assuming the use of a non-medical, but high quality mask, they found that if 80 percent of a population wears masks when lockdowns end, along with social distancing, the virus could be eliminated. This scenario would result in 60,000 deaths in a population the size of the UK (66.7 million). If only 50 percent of the population wears masks, cases would be reduced but the virus would continue to spread, leading to 240,000 deaths.
The study also demonstrates that masks are most useful if a country achieves a high level of mask-wearing by day 50 of an outbreak. Some US states have yet to reach that point.
“The expected utility of masks far outweighs the cost,” De Kai says. “Even if the uncertainty was 50-50, which it’s not,” he adds, “when it’s all upside and no downside, you take the bet.”
Mashable, Coronavirus cases would dwindle if 80% of Americans wore masks, says study, 10 May 2020, by Anna Iovine.
MSN, This Is How Many People Need to Wear Masks to Stop the Coronavirus, 13 May 2020, by Charlie Duerr.
VentureBeat, AI models suggest that masks can ‘significantly’ reduce spread of coronavirus, 29 Apr 2020, by Kyle L. Wiggers.
Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table, Why Do Experts Say Our Only Hope Is Masks? 23 May 2020, by Noam Dworman, Dan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand with De Kai and Ryan Wain. Spotify Stitcher Apple Podcasts The Laugh Button Player.fm
Bosphorus Summit, What is our New Normal in the Post Covid Era? 21 May 2020, by Ceren Çerçiler with De Kai.
The Independent, How Hong Kong avoided a single coronavirus death in care homes, 27 May 2020, by Laurel Chor.
Vox, How masks helped Hong Kong control the coronavirus, 18 May 2020, by Alex Ward.
ZME Science, Universal use of face masks is urgently needed, and here’s why: Infection rates would drop drastically if everybody wore masks, 12 May 2020, by Fermin Koop.
Best Life, This Is How Many People Need to Wear Masks to Stop the Coronavirus, 12 May 2020, by Charlie Duerr.
The Daily Californian, ‘A good measure of protection’: Researchers find universal masking policies lead to suppressed spread of COVID-19, 15 May 2020, by Kate Finman.
SmartHer News, Masking Up, 20 May 2020, by Jenna Lee. Bonus content: De Kai talks about artificial intelligence, disinformation during COVID-19
Popular Information, Facebook, unmasked, 18 May 2020, by Judd Legum.
Highlands News-Sun, To mask or not to mask, 21 May 2020, by Kim Moody and Allen Moody.
Columbia County Observer, The Columbia County 5: Wearing Masks and Social Distancing Is Not Their Style, 15 May 2020, by Stew Lilker.
MLive, 8 pointers for Michiganders on when and how to wear a mask, 13 May 2020, by Julie Mack.
The Stranger, As COVID-19 Transmissions Appear to Rise in Washington, King County "Urges" Public to Wear Face Masks, 11 May 2020, by Rich Smith.
Deseret News, In our opinion: Getting back to normal means wearing a mask, 12 May 2020, by Deseret News Editorial Board.
Words & Deeds, No Shoes, No Shirt, No Face Mask, No Service. It’s Not That Hard. 18 May 2020, by Doug Porter.
FR24 News, Coronavirus cases would decrease if 80% of Americans wore masks, study finds, 9 May 2020.
USA Today, Over 100 health leaders to governors: Require masks to help contain the coronavirus, 14 May 2020, by Jeremy Howard and Zeynep Tufekci.
#masks4all, Over 100 Prominent Health Experts Call For Cloth Mask Requirements 14 May 2020.
Spanish
CONECTA + FiiS, De Kai: Necesitamos cerrar nuestras narices y nuestras bocas, 23 Jun 2020. Vimeo
SML, De Kai: Hong Kong es el major ejemplo de que no necesitamos encerrarnos en las casas y es porque primero cerramos nuestas narices y nuestras bocas, Jun-Jul 2020, by Felipe Ramos Hajna.
Get a more concrete feel for how big an impact upon slowing virus spread it makes for everyone to wear face masks. We're making an interactive version of this agent-based model available for you to play with our new individual agent-based model, and see what different masking policies do.
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Learn how with this 4-minute quick orientation video.
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Try the masksim simulator yourself.
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Our white paper explains why universal masking is urgent, with new empirical, theoretical, and policy analyses: “Universal Masking to Restart Society and Save Lives: COVID-19 Data, Simulations, Policy Recommendations” by De Kai, Guy-Philippe Goldstein, Alexey Morgunov, Vishal Nangalia, and Anna Rotkirch, released 10 Apr 2020 and updated 20 Apr 2020. universalmasking.pdf
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The research for the white paper above comes from this academic work: “Universal Masking is Urgent in the COVID-19 Pandemic: SEIR and Agent Based Models, Empirical Validation, Policy Recommendations” by De Kai, Guy-Philippe Goldstein, Alexey Morgunov, Vishal Nangalia, and Anna Rotkirch, submitted 22 Apr 2020 and released 26 Apr 2020. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.21662.08001. arXiv:2004.13553
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Start by getting a quick explainer with this 4-minute orientation video, before diving into all the details of the theoretical models and empirical validation in the free white paper and underlying research study above.
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Coronavirus spread would dramatically drop if 80% of a population wore masks, AI researcher says. This 5-minute interview with South China Morning Post by Elaine Ly on 25 May 2020 is subtitled “A.I. shows how masks can reduce spread of COVID-19”.
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Comedy Cellar, New York: Why Do Experts Say Our Only Hope Is Masks? The audio-only podcast of this 42-minute video conversation on Comedy Cellar's “Live from the Table” program by Noam Dworman, Dan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand on 23 May 2020 can also be heard on Sirius XM radio, Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, The Laugh Button, and Player.fm.
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The idea of wearing masks to protect your fellow citizens may seem unfamiliar or alien, but unconscious cognitive biases against face masks is killing too many of our friends, family, and communities. This 6-minute talk is a featured key takeway from the global Boma COVID-19 Summit on 23 Mar 2020, Session 2, and is titled “The disastrous consequences of information disorder erupting around COVID-19: AI is preying upon our unconscious cognitive biases”.
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What is our New Normal in the Post Covid Era? This 41-minute video conversation with Ceren Çerçiler for Bosphorus Summit on 21 May 2020 touches on a wide range of AI and tech topics in a post COVID-19 world, especially how cultures can learn faster from each other how to save lives by overcoming unconscious cognitive biases — with universal masking as the prime case study.
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NEW STUDY: Masking Up This 5-minute interview with former Fox News anchor Jenna Lee discusses “What new research has uncovered about how wearing masks impacts the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.”
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**Bonus Content** with lead researcher on artificial intelligence This bonus 5-minute interview with former Fox News anchor Jenna Lee discusses “the spread of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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The Jimmy Dore Show devotes an entire episode to #masks4all, covering our work from from 9:45 to 12:20. The Jimmy Dore Show, produced by KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, airs nationally on the Pacifica Radio Network.
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Want a slower paced, longer explanation than the quick orientation tutorial video above? Watch this 10-minute introductory lesson video.
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