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Questions must surely be being asked about whether face masks are working or not. With the number of spikes and new cases rising at a daily level here in the Balearics, across Spain and the rest of Europe, where the wearing of face masks has been made obligatory in many countries, one has to wonder why are there so many new cases while we are all, well at least the vast majority, adhering to the law and wearing masks?

Even the experts appear to be confused, although there does appear to be one general consensus. The latest research largely suggests that face masks won’t necessarily stop you catching Covid-19 but will lessen the chance of you passing it on if you are asymptomatically carrying and unaware of this (so not isolating at home).

The WHO has published a report saying that masks did not prevent healthy people from picking up coronavirus but did stop the virus spreading.

Jimmy Whitworth, professor of international public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that the benefit is largely for others, not yourself: “They’re more beneficial if you have a virus and don’t want to pass it on than to prevent catching anything.” This corroborates the WHO findings.

So, the wearing of masks is obviously not a 100 percent full proof way of combating the spread of the virus and as we’re seeing in Spain, new supplementary measures are being introduced.