MADISON, Wis. — Even after the coronavirus pandemic ends, local experts say masks will likely be here to stay.
“I forsee mask use as something you go to whenever we have high community rates of some high respiratory infection,” Dr. Ajay Sethi of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health says. “It could be flu, other viruses, that are circulating during winter months. Mask use might be very useful at keeping those things at bay.”
Rates of respiratory illnesses like the flu and colds were significantly lower in 2020 than they had been pre-pandemic, which experts say could be attributed to masks preventing their spread.
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