The Effect of Face Mask Use on COVID-19 Models

Epidemiologia (Basel). 2021 Feb 26;2(1):75-83. doi: 10.3390/epidemiologia2010007.

Abstract

We begin with a simple model for the COVID-19 epidemic and add face mask usages and testing and quarantine of infectives. We estimate the effect on the reproduction number and discuss the question of whether the epidemic can be controlled by increased use of face masks.

Keywords: COVID-19; deterministic modeling; face mask usages; final epidemic size; reproduction number; test and quarantine.