Do populations that have traditionally worn face coverings also have a lower overall incidence of communicable disease?

@Jeruba It’s a great question, and I don’t have any answers to offer. I will add a few points that would make this particularly difficult to study. You would have different climates, genetics, and social norms (other than dress) that would make isolating the variable of face coverings tricky. For example, regular washing in Islamic cultures would likely have a huge impact on reducing the transmissiblity of disease.

I tried to google to find statistics or some sort of information, and couldn’t find anything.

Keep in mind it’s usually just women who have covered faces in those societies, it tends to be remote parts of a country, and the women can’t go anywhere without a man half the time. Moreover, some of these cultures include eating family style with your hands and don’t necessarily have the best conditions for washing hands frequently.

Here’s a little meat that doesn’t totally answer the question but that addresses it with some facts:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/19/fact-check-burqas-and-niqabs-not-comparable-face-masks/5408236002/

That would prove nothing because over the life of a person too much isolation is also deadly.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Science-says-dirt-is-good-for-kids-13851074.php