Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

Face masks for COVID pass their largest test yet

A rigorous study finds that surgical masks are highly protective, but cloth masks fall short.
  1. Lynne Peeples

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

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Face masks protect against COVID-19. That’s the conclusion of a gold-standard clinical trial in Bangladesh, which backs up the findings of hundreds of previous observational and laboratory studies.1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02457-y

References

  1. Abaluck, J. et al. Innovations for Poverty Action Working Paper https://www.poverty-action.org/publication/impact-community-masking-covid-19-cluster-randomized-trial-bangladesh (2021).

  2. Bundgaard, H. et al. Ann. Intern. Med. 174, 335–343 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links