After months of deliberation, Australia has embraced face masks as an effective way to help stymie coronavirus outbreaks.

In Victoria’s locked-down areas of Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, where it is mandatory to wear a face mask when out in public, nearly every adult can be spotted wearing one wrapped around their ears.

But it turns out the requirement to wear a face mask won’t only stop us from coughing out or breathing in infected air droplets.

A study released on Thursday shows wearing a mask comes with an extra benefit – it helps us stop touching our faces.

• Read: Australians finally embrace face masks, as a fashion statement

Whether medical or fabric, the study found that face masks have been linked to a reduction in people touching their eyes, nose and mouth.

This is great news given one of the key ways of protecting yourself from the coronavirus is to stop touching your face.

That’s because COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, which means it can get into your body through your eyes, nose and mouth.

All it takes for you to get sick is to touch an infected surface like a door handle then immediately touch your face, whether it be itching your nose or rubbing your eye.

• Read: Essential mask guide: Which one is best and how to wear them

Health authorities have been urging people to regularly wash our hands for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the shops, using the toilet or being out in public.

The research, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, used footage recorded in public transport stations and parks in China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and western European countries like England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

The scientists compared how often people touched their faces before the coronavirus pandemic, from January 2018 to October 2019, and during it, from February to March 2020.

During the periods studied, the number of people wearing face masks increased in all regions except the US.

• Read: ‘Bunnings Karen’ and the anti-mask leaders are ‘selfish’ and risking lives

“An increasing number of governments have enacted mandatory mask-wearing policies for the general population in public areas,” the researchers wrote.

“However, the mechanisms of the preventive effect associated
with masks are poorly understood, which has contributed to limited public acceptance of mandatory mask-wearing policies.”

The study found that less people touched their faces in countries like China where everyone was required to wear a face mask in public, which may help prevent the spread of the coronavirus among the general population.

Professor Brendan Murphy admits there have been “deficiencies” in the response to COVID outbreaks in Victorian aged care, warning there are many more deaths to come.

At least 77 aged-care facilities in Victoria have reported coronavirus outbreaks, with at least 13 of those having more than 20 cases.

More than 800 of Victoria’s virus infections are connected to its aged-care homes.

The death count from the homes has already topped 50, with further fatalities certain.

Victoria had 295 new COVID infections and nine more deaths on Wednesday, bringing its COVID toll to 92. Australia’s national toll is 176.

Seven of Wednesday’s deaths were linked to the aged-care crisis.

“There will be more deaths with the number of aged-care recipients that are infected,” Professor Murphy said on Wednesday.

“We know that, it is a certainty. We will see deaths every day – and that is a tragedy.”

Professor Murphy – the secretary of the federal Health Department who was, until recently, the nation’s chief medical officer – spoke in Canberra, alongside Prime Minister Scott Morrison, to admit authorities had been caught short by the unique set of circumstances at the St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Melbourne’s north.

There have been questions about how the situation in Victorian aged-care deteriorated so quickly, especially as health officials had previously dealt with outbreaks in nursing homes in NSW and Victoria.

Professor Murphy said the St Basil’s outbreak, where the entire staff was ordered into quarantine and replacement workers hastily shipped in, was one that “we have not experienced before”.

By Wednesday, there were 89 coronavirus cases linked to St Basil’s.

Aged care cannot be protected completely when there is sustained community transmission, Brendan Murphy says – “it wreaks havoc” in elderly populations

Says around 10% of VIC residential aged care facilities have outbreaks pic.twitter.com/N2G2oPRYhG

— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) July 29, 2020

“There essentially were no spare staff in Victoria because of the number of staff and contacts in quarantine and isolation. It was very difficult,” he said.

“Staff were found from all sorts of sources but they were not staff that knew this community and there is no doubt that that was a very challenging situation in their work, and clearly deficiencies in care.”

Mr Morrison said the idea of a home’s entire workforce being abruptly quarantined was “something that had not been anticipated or foreshadowed at a state level, or considered at a federal level”.

Professor Murphy said dozens of residents had been moved out of St Basil’s and into hospitals, once the situation broke down.

“But there were clearly deficiencies in care last week and stories that we would have heard reported and which troubled all of us,” he said.

Professor Murphy said another Melbourne home, Epping Gardens, was also of great concern, as many of its workers had also been forced into quarantine. The Epping Gardens outbreak has 86 linked cases.

To avoid a similar situation to St Basil’s, Professor Murphy said senior staff were being shipped into the centre, and vulnerable residents were being moved to hospitals.

Morrison and Andrews make up

Mr Morrison said he was “not interested” in blame shifting, as reports emerged of a split in his relationship with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

Both leaders downplayed those reports on Wednesday, after claims federal health officials had urged Victoria to cancel elective surgeries earlier to divert health workers to nursing homes instead.

Professor Murphy confirmed he had made “a very formal request” on Sunday that the surgeries be cancelled. The decision to do that was not announced by Mr Andrews until Tuesday, but Professor Murphy described reports his advice had been ignored as “a bit of a storm in a teacup.”

It followed a rare public spat between the federal and state government on Tuesday, when Mr Andrews said he wouldn’t want his mother in “some” federal-regulated private aged care homes. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt responded soon after, calling that a “dangerous” statement.

On Wednesday, Mr Morrison and Mr Andrews were at pains to smooth out the fracas, each praising the other.

“What I’m interested in and the Premier is interested in, is us working together to solve the problem. Reports of these things about how the Premier and I are working together are greatly exaggerated. The Premier and I enjoy a very good working relationship,” the PM said.

“We enjoy a high level of respect for each other and the responsibilities we each have.”

Mr Morrison added “I understand the emotion that is around this issue.”

Mr Andrews also downplayed the reports, and claims of a dispute with Mr Morrison.

“I have a very important, productive, and respectful relationship with the PM, there is a mutual regard where it is serving the interests of every single Victorian,” he said.

“Any talk about fights and arguments is wrong. It might make good copy but it’s wrong.”