Face Masks

[The Atheist]

Popularised during the pandemic, face masks have largely disappeared from the world since the reduction of covid to "just another virus".

I've been particularly impressed by clinicians' reluctance to wear masks, even in very obvious airborne disease ridden areas, like emergency rooms.

I would have thought a very obvious cost benefit was available to health authorities and companies - if staff catch fewer viruses, sick leave will reduce and you won't be passing on viruses to vulnerable patients, or each other.

The WHO has issued a guideline that medical personnel should wear not just masks, but respirators.

What it boils to is that doctors and nurses would rather catch the occasional virus than wear a respirator. With 4 kids and two recently-deceased older relatives, I've had a lot to do with medical establishments over the past few years and it's really rare to see a clinician masked up.

WHO is pushing it uphill thinking the recommendation will be treated seriously.

Face masks ‘inadequate’ and should be swapped for respirators, WHO is advised

Experts are urging guideline changes on what health professionals should wear to protect against flu-like illnesses including Covid

www.theguardian.com

 

[jimbob]

Popularised during the pandemic, face masks have largely disappeared from the world since the reduction of covid to "just another virus".

I've been particularly impressed by clinicians' reluctance to wear masks, even in very obvious airborne disease ridden areas, like emergency rooms.

I would have thought a very obvious cost benefit was available to health authorities and companies - if staff catch fewer viruses, sick leave will reduce and you won't be passing on viruses to vulnerable patients, or each other.

The WHO has issued a guideline that medical personnel should wear not just masks, but respirators.

What it boils to is that doctors and nurses would rather catch the occasional virus than wear a respirator. With 4 kids and two recently-deceased older relatives, I've had a lot to do with medical establishments over the past few years and it's really rare to see a clinician masked up.

WHO is pushing it uphill thinking the recommendation will be treated seriously.

Face masks ‘inadequate’ and should be swapped for respirators, WHO is advised

Experts are urging guideline changes on what health professionals should wear to protect against flu-like illnesses including Covid

www.theguardian.com

Yup, remember the way that flu hospitalisations and deaths reduced when people were masking up.

 

[Steve]

I have spent two nights on a bed in emerg in the last couple of months (nothing too serious either time) and agree that masks are quite rare among the medical staff working there.

 

[Olmstead]

I wonder how this stacks up in Japan, or other countries where face masks had been a common sight even before Covid.

 

[The Atheist]

I have spent two nights on a bed in emerg in the last couple of months (nothing too serious either time) and agree that masks are quite rare among the medical staff working there.

One particularly memorable trip was talking my youngest to our GP clinic last year for a scheduled appointment. The clinic also has a walk-in section, which has its own waiting area.

My son and I were both masked and very pleased to be so as the walk-in waiting room sounded like a TB ward. It was peak 'flu/RSV season and not one of the staff was masked.

Ho hum

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Received several hundred masks during peak covid from the grand brats. Currently sealed away. Read for Trumpocalypse Next.

 

[angrysoba]

I wonder how this stacks up in Japan, or other countries where face masks had been a common sight even before Covid.

I’m on a train in Japan now. About half of the people in the carriage are wearing masks (9 out of 20 or so). On another train I changed from it was 13 out of about 40 or 50.

During the peak of flu season, probably a supermajority of people wore masks.

That’s more or less how things were before Covid, maybe slightly higher now. Some people wear masks almost constantly.

Then again there is also the phenomenon of younger women who wear masks when they didn’t have time to put on make up in the morning.

 

[angrysoba]

I think health workers here in Japan wear masks at a much higher rate when in hospitals or clinics.

 

[icerat]

It's more common than you might think. We're on track for the usual 17 years between "discovery" and acceptance in health. Masks work.

The Comeback of Masking Policies in Healthcare - WHN

Published on January 22, 2024 Masking is making a comeback in healthcare facilities across the globe to protect patients and healthcare workers and contain the spread of infectious airborne diseases, including COVID-19, flu, and RSV. This includes individual hospitals and health systems [1], as...

whn.global