You may for that purpose, if you wish. I wear mine only to protect myself (and those I would otherwise bring the virus home to.)
Health care workers, who are tested for TB, wear an N95 mask when in the room with TB patients.
An N95 mask is at least 80% effective against covid. It was found to be that effective compared to surgical mask.
Remember when they said if we had a vaccine just 50% effective, it would reduce "R" below 1.0 and stop spread of the pandemic?
Masks already were that effective. And remain so as the virus mutates. The public simply wearing them in 2020 would have meant no more pandemic.
"For both TB and COVID-19, cough is a predominant symptom, and airborne droplets are produced by any forced expiratory maneuver, especially coughing; at least for TB, the severity of cough is an indicator of transmission risk. For TB, several additional indicators assist in quantifying the risk for transmission from the index case and, thus, in assigning priority to a contact investigation. These indicators include the bacillary burden, as indicated by the radiographic extent of the disease in the lungs and the presence or absence of cavitary lesions and qualitative sputum smear positivity (16,30). No such assessment is routinely used for COVID-19, although quantification of viral load in nasal or pharyngeal swab specimens and an assessment of the severity and duration of respiratory symptoms could provide such information (31,32). Reduction in viral inoculum by widespread wearing of masks has been POSTULATED to result in less severe manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection (33).
For TB, because of the increasing risk for acquisition of infection with the closeness and duration of exposure to persons with this disease, contact evaluation can be structured, beginning in the home, workplace, or school, and places of leisure and working outward in a manner that conceptually resembles concentric circles. The number and percentage of close contacts with evidence of disease, or recent infection, inform the need to expand the investigation to contacts in outer ring circles. This iterative approach optimizes the use of resources for investigations and testing (16,30). For SARS-CoV-2, data strongly suggest that the virus is highly transmissible even with casual contact, so the duration of exposure might not be relevant (14,20,32).
All of the foregoing indicates that in conducting contact identification and evaluation for persons exposed to persons with COVID-19, a wide net must be cast. Moreover, given the incubation period and pace of the disease, the process must be accomplished much more quickly than is necessary for TB. Unfortunately, much of the knowledge base that is used to guide TB contact identification and evaluation does not yet exist for COVID-19. To generate the necessary information, investigators studying the epidemiology of COVID-19 and, in particular, those charged with investigating outbreaks and conducting contact tracing, should be certain that the data being collected will enable analyses directed toward identifying factors that influence viral transmission. A recent report of nationwide contact tracing for COVID-19 in South Korea indicated both the need to investigate »10 contacts per index case and that 11.8% of household contacts had COVID-19, >6 times the 1.9% prevalence of COVID-19 in nonhousehold contacts (34).
Using the Investigation of TB on the USS Byrd as a Template
Essentially all infection control and public health measures for TB are based on the understanding, backed by strong empirical and experimental evidence, that M. tuberculosis is transmitted nearly exclusively by aerosols (23,35). Some of the strongest evidence of M. tuberculosis transmission through aerosols has been derived from several TB outbreak investigations. Perhaps the most notable and informative outbreak investigation was conducted in response to a single crew member who was found the have cavitary pulmonary TB during the course of a long sea tour by the US Navy vessel the USS Richard Byrd in 1965 (36). A thorough assessment of the patterns of air circulation and their relationship to new cases and infections was conducted aboard the ship. The investigation found that all new cases and infections occurred in crew members who had either direct personal contact with the index case-patient or were exposed through recirculated air in a closed ventilation system. The investigators were able to establish what might be viewed as a dose-response curve based on the exposure to different amounts of recirculated air and the proportion exposed crew members who were infected (36). Of particular note, several of the newly infected sailors (indicated by a new positive tuberculin skin test) who were asymptomatic and had negative chest radiographs were found to have M. tuberculosis in their sputum, raising the possibility of transmission from persons without the usual symptoms of TB, as is the case with COVID-19 (20,32). This finding is consistent with findings from national TB prevalence surveys of a substantial proportion of study subjects who were found to have M. tuberculosis in their sputum but had no symptoms (e.g., cough >2 weeks) (37).
Outbreaks of COVID-19 on a cruise ship (Diamond Princess) in late January 2020 and the USS Theodore Roosevelt in March 2020 provide unique opportunities, similar to those provided by the USS Byrd, to gain a more detailed understanding of transmission patterns for SARS-CoV-2. To date, published assessments of COVID-19 outbreaks in these 2 separate settings consist of initial assessments, 1 documenting the occurrence of 700 cases of COVID-19 among nearly 3,700 passengers and crew members in the cruise ship (38). The investigation identified that 15 of 20 cases in crew members were in food workers, and 16 of these 20 persons slept in cabins on deck 3. No details were provided for the distribution of COVID-19 cases in passengers, nor of the ventilation system in this cruise ship (38). A follow-up assessment was limited to 215 Hong Kong passengers after quarantine and disembarkation; 9 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (39). No berthing information is available for those passengers. The USS Roosevelt outbreak investigation was a serostudy of a convenience sample of 382 crew members (40). Although the sample was not representative of the entire crew, 60% of the participants had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, indicating prior infection. Notably, 20% of the seropositive group denied having symptoms. Also, as is the case with asymptomatic TB, the degree to which these asymptomatic persons transmitted the infection is not known. Examination of crew member duty rosters and assessment of ventilation patterns in areas inhabited by infected and noninfected persons could provide important information concerning aerosol transmission and the role of spread of the virus by asymptomatic persons. Although the outbreak on the USS Byrd occurred >50 years ago, its assessment is a model for advancing knowledge by thorough investigations, including environmental studies to examine the role of air circulation. With increasing speculation and uncertainty about basic questions such as relative importance of different transmission modes for SARS-CoV-2 (5,7), the Diamond Princess and USS Roosevelt outbreaks present opportunities, similar to that provided by the USS Byrd, that should not be overlooked.
As noted, although contact identification and evaluation are widely used in high-income, low TB–incidence countries, implementation is limited in low- and middle-income countries. Given the experience with TB, considerable patience, skill, and ingenuity are needed in the implementation of contact tracing for COVID-19. Digital and other automated technologies have been applied to COVID-19 contact tracing in different country settings (41,42). This new thinking, coupled with innovative tools, will likely hold lessons and examples for improvements in TB prevention and control."
TB and COVID-19 Transmission and Control
wwwnc.cdc.gov
You need to look up "postulated" as used in this cdc website also might want to consider antibodies as described from exposures. That is herd immunology and is natural for most virus.
definition:
"
postulate transitive verb
- To assume or assert the truth, reality, or necessity of, especially as a basis of an argument.
- To propose as a hypothesis or explanation.
- To assume as a premise or axiom; take for granted."
TB is known as a bacteria and Sars-cov 2 is known as a virus.
TB is much better known as it has been around for a long time. There was a time in this country where TB infected were taken to a TB specialized hospital isolated away until expired. I remember it account grew up in those times.
EDIT ADDED; reality the same happened for those ppl that initially got covid they were hidden away and access restricted to die alone.
wearing a mask would not have stopped anything and is personal conjecture as there is no proof same as if herd
Immunology
had been used vs injecting a vaccination against covid. If no vaccine had been given would the same amount of ppl have died? We don't and won't ever know. Joe Biden reportedly heavily covid vaxxed has had covid infected reportedly several times. So seriously doubt any mask wearing would eradicate covid. Again even cdc reported postulated as did Fauci. Knowing the meaning of words is extreme important when these ppl speak="postulated"