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. 2020 Aug;15(5):773-777.
doi: 10.1007/s11739-020-02382-4. Epub 2020 May 29.

Providing evidence on the ongoing health care workers' mask debate

Dimitrios Tsilingiris  1 , Margarita Papatheodoridi  2 , Chris J Kapelios  3   4
Affiliations

Providing evidence on the ongoing health care workers' mask debate

Dimitrios Tsilingiris et al. Intern Emerg Med. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

The scarcity of facemasks, particularly N95 respirators, combined with the lack of solid data to address the suitability of each mask type for adequate health care worker (HCW) protection have caused turmoil among HCWs. Current recommendations suggest mask usage solely during HCW contact with Covid-19 patients, namely plain medical mask for low-risk contacts and N95 for aerosol generating procedures. The distinction regarding the escalation of mask complexity depending on contact type is nevertheless based on plausible theoretical assumptions rather than hard evidence of a clear benefit. Conversely, we suggest that at least a plain mask should be used during all HCWs' contacts in healthcare facilities which constitute a highly probable but often overlooked means of SARS-CoV-2 transmission among HCWs.

Keywords: Covid-19; Medical mask; Medical personnel; N95; Pandemic; Respirator; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared that they have no conflict of interest.

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