COVID-19, Respiratory Illness
Conditions
Keywords
Face mask, COVID-19, Respiratory illness, Mortality
Brief summary
The number of cases of COVID-19 is still increasing and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 seems to occur mainly through person-to-person transmission through respiratory droplets, indirect contact with infected people and surfaces. The use of face masks is recommended as a public health measure, but in many settings only domestic cloth made masks are available to the majority of the people. However, masks can be of different quality and very little is known about the utility of cloth face masks at the community level. In Bandim Health Project's Health and Demographic Surveillance System we will evaluate the effect of providing locally produced cloth face masks on severity of COVID-19 like illness and mortality in an urban population. The locally produced cloth mask is made according to a laboratory certified model and will be provided to the intervention group alongside information of how the risk of transmission can be reduced. The control group will receive information alone. Follow-up will be implemented through telephone calls and post-epidemic home visits.
Interventions
OTHERCertified cloth face mask plus preventive information
Provision of two face masks sewed locally following a certified model tested for FORCE in the laboratory per residents \> 10 years old
BEHAVIORALPreventive information
Advice on how to prevent COVID-19 according to the government´ policy
Sponsors
University of Southern Denmark
Engineers without Borders, Denmark (https://iug.dk/en)
Bandim Health Project
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
10 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Household resident * Age: 10 years and older
Exclusion criteria
* Refusal to participate
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Reported COVID-like illness | Four months follow-up | Self-reported main symptoms of COVID-19 (three or more - fever, cough, fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of smell / taste) |
| Consultation | Four months follow-up | Consultation for COVID-19 like illness or/and reported positive test |
| Severe illness | Four months follow-up | Self reported COVID-19 like illness plus hospitalization or death |
| Mortality | Four months follow-up | Any death during the follow-up period |
Countries
Guinea-Bissau
Outcome results
None listed