Why And When You Should Wear A Mask Inside The House

India is one of the worst affected countries of Covid-19 with more than 3 Lac cases per day. The country is suffering from the major heartbreak and crisis of the pandemic. Many countries have pledged to help India with oxygen and other medical services to tackle this crisis situation in the country.

Millions of people are infected and millions are dying. Experts have advised people to wear masks even inside the house. In addition to this, there are some protocols that should be followed seriously such as sanitizing and washing your hand frequently and going out only if it is too important.

Wearing masks inside the house is now an important task after the NITI Ayog member Dr. V K Paul has said “if there is a COVID-positive person inside the house, he or she must wear the mask so as to prevent other family members from getting infected”.

“Rather, I’ll say that the time has come that we start wearing masks even otherwise inside our homes. We used to talk about wearing it outside homes, but the way the infection has spread, it will be better if we wear masks inside our homes if we are sitting with someone,” he said.

HealthWire Media got in touch with many experts to know whether we really need to wear mask even inside the home. let’s see what they have to say.

“In Covid-19, a large population does not show symptoms in the initial stage. Therefore, the asymptomatic can continue to spread the infection at home, at a faster pace. Due to the infection becoming more transmissible, there are benefits of wearing a mask at home”, said Dr. Akshat Shukla, MD Radiologist.

“There is a 1.5% risk (low), when both people are wearing masks; there is a 5% risk (medium) when only the infected person is wearing a mask and uninfected persons are unmasked, and there is 30% risk (high) if the infected person is not wearing a mask and the non-infected person has masked up, and there is 90% risk (highest) when both the infected and uninfected person is not wearing masks” he added.

Mask must be worn inside the home when:

• Whenever a guest visits your home as you don’t know their status of infection.
• When caring for a person who is sick with Covid-19.
• When you are diagnosed with COVID.
• When you are suspected to have Covid.
• Even when your RT PCR /RAT is negative but clinically you have symptoms of COVID.
• Whenever you are near your servants/housemaid who visits your house daily.

“You should wear a mask if a family member is positive in the house. You should wear a mask if a family member goes in and out of the house for work or errands, to protect unexposed other family members, especially elders” said Dr. Reema, Chief Operating, Officer and Group Medical Director, KITES Senior Care.

“It is now highly believed that there is a possibility that COVID-19 is Air-borne i.e. spreads primarily from person to person through respiratory droplets, which travel in the air when someone coughs, sneezes, talks, etc.  Wearing a mask at home will also help protect from asymptomatic people who may not be aware of their health & continue to spread the infection at home, at a faster pace. Additionally, individuals are now testing negative despite having the symptoms of COVID-19. Hence, in the second wave of COVID-19, it is recommended to wear a mask inside the homes, even when we are sitting with someone” said Dr. Gowri Kulkarni, Head of Medical Operations, MediBuddy.

“This will help on 2 levels – first & foremost, the elderly and those with co-morbidities can be protected significantly, even if one member of the family has an asymptomatic infection. Secondly, it can reduce outbreaks at households that have been marked in the second wave of COVID-19” she added.