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Face masks: what the data say

The science supports that face coverings are saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic, and yet the debate trundles on. How much evidence is enough?
  1. Lynne Peeples

    1. Lynne Peeples is a science journalist in Seattle, Washington.

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Cartoon of a person parachuting using a surgical mask through a sky filled with viruses

Illustration by Bex Glendining

When her Danish colleagues first suggested distributing protective cloth face masks to people in Guinea-Bissau to stem the spread of the coronavirus, Christine Benn wasn’t so sure.

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Nature 586, 186-189 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02801-8

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