Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2023 Sep;176(9):1266-1268.
doi: 10.7326/M23-1230. Epub 2023 Aug 22.

Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic: Updating Our Approach to Masking in Health Care Facilities

Affiliations
Editorial

Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic: Updating Our Approach to Masking in Health Care Facilities

Eric J Chow et al. Ann Intern Med. 2023 Sep.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended societal norms and changed the way the health risks associated with respiratory viral infections are viewed. In this commentary, the authors advocate for mindfulness of continuing areas of uncertainty along with integration of the lessons learned into hospital-based practices to prevent harm to vulnerable patients rather than reverting to suboptimal prepandemic behaviors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M23-1230.

References

    1. Leung NHL, Chu DKW, Shiu EYC, et al. Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks. Nat Med. 2020;26:676-680. [PMID: ] doi:10.1038/s41591-020-0843-2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shenoy ES, Babcock HM, Brust KB, et al. Universal masking in health care settings: a pandemic strategy whose time has come and gone, for now [Editorial]. Ann Intern Med. 2023;176:859-861. [PMID: ] doi:10.7326/M23-0793 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Palmore TN, Henderson DK. For patient safety, it is not time to take off masks in health care settings. Ann Intern Med. 2023;176:862-863. [PMID: ] doi:10.7326/M23-1190 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Markov PV, Ghafari M, Beer M, et al. The evolution of SARS-CoV-2. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2023;21:361-379. [PMID: ] doi:10.1038/s41579-023-00878-2 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID Data Tracker. Accessed at https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#demographicsovertime on 20 April 2023.

Publication types