With fears of huge death toll, masks remain key defence in Covid-19 war

An RCT study in Bangladesh's semi-rural and rural areas shows people can be convinced to keep up their masks. The research offers many other takeaways, including huge cost savings

Masks have dropped out of conversations. They were in any case slipping below the nose for a lot of people. There is no doubt the abandoning of mask culture also contributed to the horrible second wave of the Covid pandemic. As people battle acute shortage of beds and of oxygen, a discussion on masks could, however, sound bizarre. 

But according to Mushfiq Mobarak, professor of economics at Yale University, this could be a terrible mistake. “Vaccinations will take a long time to arrive in South Asia to create a wall of immunity. Till then, masks are most essential”.  

Mobarak and