In addition to taking care of our smile, lip balm would also be an effective way to limit the risk of transmission of Covid-19 if we believe a study conducted by French and American researchers.
The coronavirus is spread primarily through respiratory droplets released when an infected person coughs, talks or sneezes. If the mask is an effective way to stem the Covid-19 pandemic, it could well be that a beauty product will also help protect against the disease. Indeed, according to a new study published on October 2 on American Physical Society and conducted by French and American researchers, lip balm would be a good way to limit the risk of virus transmission.
To come to such conclusions, a man who was being filmed had to repeat the same sentence several times in order to notice the formation of droplets during the pronunciation of certain words. The researchers noticed that when the sounds composed of the consonants "p", "b" or "k" are pronounced, it projects air and therefore droplets up to two meters away in a few seconds. However, lip balm can help reduce the amount of droplets that are expelled. The product would prevent the filaments of saliva formed on the edges of the lips from turning into droplets. Researchers have even shown that using lip balm reduces the number of droplets projected by four times compared to non-hydrated lips.
The results are so surprising that the study's authors conclude that using a lip balm could be an efficient and inexpensive solution to slow the spread of the virus, especially in the coming winter months.
Manouk Abrakian, CNRS researcher in Montpellier and co-author of the study confirmed that lip balm would reduce the risk of contamination: "We had fun checking it out. Yes the lip balm reduces the emission of droplets for plausible consonants like the 'p', but, because there is a but, the number of drops goes up over time.", he assured in an interview with France Blue.