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A new Covid-19 prediction model makes another compelling case for wearing masks and cloth face coverings.

If practically everyone in America wears masks while out in public, it could prevent tens of thousands of Covid-19 infections and deaths by the fall, according to researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

“It is hard to imagine any health intervention that would be more cost-effective,” Theo Vos, professor of health metrics sciences at the IHME, tells CNBC Make It. “Even if causing a small amount of discomfort to everyone.”

Currently, with mask use as it is (between 20% and 60%, according to IHME) the model predicts over 208,200 cumulative deaths by Nov. 1. The model also predicts predicts over 100,000 infections a day by late September, topping out at nearly 168,000 projected new infections on a single day on Nov. 1.

To date, there have been at least 3 million infections and 132,000 Covid-19 deaths in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University and Medicine. The U.S. hit a record single-day Covid-19 infections on July 8, with 60,000 daily infections reported.

But that could all change if 95% of people now start wearing masks anytime they’re in public, according to the model. Universal mask usage could prevent nearly 45,500 projected Covid-19-related deaths by Nov. 1, or about a 58% reduction, Vos says.

“In the mask scenario, assuming we can get 95% of people to always wear a mask, the cumulative deaths will reach 162,808 [by Nov. 1],” Vos says.

As for infections, the model predicts that universal mask usage could reduce the number of infections on Nov. 1 to a little under 33,500, an 80% reduction.

This is “quite a big difference,” Vos says.

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if 95% of people now start wearing masks anytime they’re in public

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Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Why are there so many selfish and/or confused idiots in this country right now?

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Originally posted by CHAS:
"brought them out like a highlighter pen."