The study by Leung et al. investigated the shedding of respiratory viruses, including seasonal human coronaviruses, influenza viruses, and rhinoviruses, in exhaled breath and coughs of children and adults with acute respiratory illnesses. Surgical face masks were found to significantly reduce the detection of influenza virus RNA in respiratory droplets and coronavirus RNA in aerosols, with a trend toward reduced detection of coronavirus RNA in respiratory droplets. The results suggest that surgical face masks could prevent the transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals. The study also highlighted the importance of respiratory droplet and aerosol transmission routes for these viruses and provided evidence that surgical masks can effectively reduce the emission of influenza virus particles into the environment in respiratory droplets. However, the study noted that a large proportion of participants had undetectable viral shedding in exhaled breath, which limited the ability to examine the reduction in viral shedding by chi-squared tests or t-tests.The study by Leung et al. investigated the shedding of respiratory viruses, including seasonal human coronaviruses, influenza viruses, and rhinoviruses, in exhaled breath and coughs of children and adults with acute respiratory illnesses. Surgical face masks were found to significantly reduce the detection of influenza virus RNA in respiratory droplets and coronavirus RNA in aerosols, with a trend toward reduced detection of coronavirus RNA in respiratory droplets. The results suggest that surgical face masks could prevent the transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals. The study also highlighted the importance of respiratory droplet and aerosol transmission routes for these viruses and provided evidence that surgical masks can effectively reduce the emission of influenza virus particles into the environment in respiratory droplets. However, the study noted that a large proportion of participants had undetectable viral shedding in exhaled breath, which limited the ability to examine the reduction in viral shedding by chi-squared tests or t-tests.