We are giving respiratory viruses a strategic advantage because of our way of communicating exclusively by voice. Speakers emit microdroplets that can carry viruses to listeners [1]. The use of surgical masks by everyone could prevent this, but at an annual cost of about $ 3 trillion [2], which would be more than half of the WHO budget [3]. It can be reduced by reusing the masks, using them only in certain situations or lowering their quality, but these measures limit their effectiveness.
There is a complementary weapon that we can use in this battle, which is learning to make gestures to replace our voice in contexts of health risk. In this way we will better protect health or public care personnel. There is no cost to use these gestures (only the time spent learning them), they are totally reusable and do not pollute the environment.
The higher the proportion of infected people who do not cough, the more effective this proposal will be, and gradually scientific evidence is emerging that Covid-19 spreads significantly through these asymptomatic carriers [4], [5], [6], [7].
We request the WHO to make a public assessment of this possibility of collective participation in the containment of this pandemic and in the prevention of other similar ones that may appear in the future.

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References:

[1]: Video showing the emission of microdroplets when speaking and their containment through masks: https://youtu.be/M0mKdKiOxRQ Original article: Visualizing Speech-Generated Oral Fluid Droplets with Laser Light Scattering, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2007800

[2]: This figure is obtained by multiplying the current world population (https://countrymeters.info/es/World by the 365 days of a year and assuming an average cost of $ 1 for each surgical mask of daily use and not reusable.

[3]: At http://open.who.int/2020-21/home you can access the global WHO budget for the year 2020-21, which totals $ 4.8 trillion.

[4]: Reuters, 2020 april 25: In four U.S. state prisons, nearly 3,300 inmates test positive for coronavirus - 96% without symptoms. A very high proportion of asymptomatic carriers have been detected in prisons in the United States, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-prisons-testing-in/in-four-u-s-state-prisons-nearly-3300-inmates-test-positive-for-coronavirus-96-without-symptoms-idUSKCN2270RX

[5]: NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine), 28 de mayo: Asymptomatic Transmission, the Achilles’ Heel of Current Strategies to Control Covid-19. Conclusions: Ultimately, the rapid spread of Covid-19 across the United States and the globe, the clear evidence of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from asymptomatic persons, and the eventual need to relax current social distancing practices … calls for unprecedented measures to achieve its ultimate defeat. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2009758

[6]: BBC News, 3 de junio: Asymptomatic care workers unknowingly spread coronavirus. Over 40% of care staff in MHA nursing homes in England who tested positive for Covid-19 showed no symptoms of the disease. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52912538

[7]: El Periódico, june 4 : SEGUNDA OLA DEL ESTUDIO DE SEROPREVALENCIA (SECOND WAVE OF THE SEROPREVALENCE STUDY). One in three coronavirus-infected patients had no symptoms. The only defense against the asymptomatic is distance, hand washing and the mask, remembers Simón.

https://www.elperiodico.com/es/sanidad/20200604/uno-cada-tres-infectados-por-coronavirus--no-sufrido-sintomas-7987352

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At www.yogote.net/antivirus you can access a collection of 100 Antivirus Gestures specially selected for this purpose, freely accessible and free for anyone to learn and use as an additional resource in this collective battle. Just as important as signing this petition is that you learn to use some of these gestures and spread them in your environment. Any information in this regard will be welcome on the social networks that appear on those same pages.
These gestures are part of the YoGoTe international communication educational project, which has been promoting multilingualism with international gestures in more than 30 countries for more than 20 years in a completely voluntary, free and participatory way: www.yogote.net