Face masks ‘inadequate’ and should be swapped for respirators, WHO is advised
www.theguardian.com
Experts are urging guideline changes on what health professionals should wear to protect against flu-like illnesses including Covid
  • perestroika@slrpnk.netEnglish
    181·
    7 days ago

    To me, this somewhat old debate has always sounded a bit boring.

    Face masks are for low-risk stuff. If a dentist is hovering above a healthy patient’s mouth, fixing their teeth, and doesn’t want large droplets to be communicated either way, it helps.

    If however, someone has Ebola and a doctor goes to see them, well… in cases like that, doctors have always preferred to look like a cosmonaut - wear the highest grade of protective equipment they can.

    Guidelines try to adress typical situations. If the context is an infectious disease of the respiratory tract, the ordinary masks, leaking from sides and near the nose, don’t offer a comfortable level of protection, even if their filtering capability is theoretically good enough. They just leak.