How wearing face masks can help reduce US GDP fall
24 August
Healthcare officials have repeatedly highlighted the importance of wearing face masks to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Economists have gone a step further, by translating the importance of mask wearing into economic terms to understand the impact on GDP.
Dr. Malini Nair, an economist, shared an article on how wearing masks can help in improving the US GDP.
Wearing masks can act as an alternative for lockdowns and enable more shops and offices to open. According to Goldman Sachs, if 15% of the population wears a mask, the increase in number of cases can be reduced by 1%.
The Economist further notes that if a single person in the US wears a mask for a day, it will help in preventing a fall in GDP of $56.14.
Based on these projections, the article notes the government should place more emphasis on the importance of wearing masks.