Masks to become the ‘norm’ as Covid-19 to 'stalk the human race' for some time

A woman wearing a mask in St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. Face masks will become the ‘norm’ as Covid-19 is going to ‘stalk the human race for quite some time’, the WHO has warned. Picture: RollingNews.ie

Face masks will become the “norm” and Covid-19 is going to “stalk the human race for quite some time”, the World Health Organisation has warned.

The WHO’s Covid-19 envoy David Nabarro also said countries are going to need to set up local Neighbourhood Health Watch schemes to “defend against the disease”.

On BBC’s Today Programme, he said everybody needs to habitually take even mild symptoms seriously and those who have them must “get out of everybody’s way”.

“It is about having a whole network at the local level of being able to defend against disease. It’s like having Neighbourhood Health Watches everywhere so people with symptoms can get quick advice and then rapid ambulance help.

“This virus isn’t going to go away and we don’t know when we will have a vaccine. Yes, we will wear masks. Yes, there will have to be more physical distancing.

“We must all learn how to interrupt transmission. It is a revolution like when it was discovered dirty water bore cholera or like when we all learned about Aids and its relationship with sex.

“We changed, we adapted, we learned how to live with these new realities. We’ve got to learn to live with the new reality of life with Covid-19.”

He said three main types of people need to wear masks — health workers, people with symptoms and people in frequent contact with others.

“The first people who need masks are health workers,” he said. “Secondly you need people who have got the symptoms of the disease to wear masks so they are less likely to spread the disease.

“Thirdly people who are in frequent contact with others and can’t easily physical distance because of work.”

And then he said, as far as the wider population is concerned, nobody can “ensure everybody can quickly access good masks”.

“Some form of face protection is going to become the norm, not least to give people reassurance.”

He said the widespread use of masks will come as people “learn to live with Covid-19”.

Health authorities here have ruled out directing people to wear masks in public. But just last week the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said people should consider wearing non-medical face masks in public.