Wear masks in the bedroom to prevent COVID-19 — experts
ABSTINENCE is the ideal to prevent transmission of COVID-19, but, in its absence, couples are being advised to take precautionary measures, including wearing masks, while engaging in intimacy, a paper from Harvard Medical School researchers recommends.
The paper, Sexual Health in the SARS-CoV-2 Era, by Jack L Turban, MD, et al, and published online last month in the Annals of Internal Medicine, analysed a range of sexual practices organised from least to most risky during COVID-19.
Abstinence was seen as the lowest-risk approach to sexual health during the pandemic, while masturbation was an additional safe recommendation for people to meet their sexual needs without the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
At highest risk are those who engage in sexual activity with people they are not in self-quarantine with, and it’s these people who are encouraged to use risk-reduction techniques.
“For some patients complete abstinence from in-person sexual activity is not an achievable goal. In these situations, having sex with persons with whom they are self-quarantining is the safest approach,” the researchers encouraged.
For others who are hobnobbing with people outside their home quarantine circle, risk-reduction techniques include minimising the number of partners; avoiding partners with COVID symptoms; avoiding kissing and other behaviours with a risk for fecal-oral transmission or that involves semen and urine; wearing a mask; showering before and after intercourse; and cleaning the physical space with soap or alcohol wipes.
“SARS-CoV-2 is present in respiratory secretions and spreads through aerosolised particles. It may remain stable on surfaces for days. On the basis of this information, all types of in-person sexual activity probably carry risk for SARS-CoV-2 transmission,” the researchers said.
“Infected individuals have the potential to spread respiratory secretions on to their skin and personal objects, from which the virus can be transmitted to a sexual partner.”
But, they said, sexual expression is a central aspect of human health, and messaging around sex being dangerous may have “insidious psychological effects at a time when people are especially susceptible to mental health difficulties”.
As such, sex-positive recommendations are key during the pandemic, balancing human needs for intimacy with personal safety and pandemic control.
