Free Republic

With medical supplies in high demand, federal authorities say health workers can wear surgical masks for protection while treating COVID-19 patients — but growing evidence suggests the practice is putting workers in jeopardy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently said lower-grade surgical masks are “an acceptable alternative” to N95 masks unless workers are performing an intubation or another procedure on a COVID patient that could unleash a high volume of virus particles. America’s health care workers are dying from the coronavirus pandemic. These are some of the first tragic cases. But scholars, nonprofit leaders and former regulators in...

[This study is 4 months old, but still very timely] A study published today in JAMA compared the ubiquitous surgical (or medical) mask, which costs about a dime, to a less commonly used respirator called an N95, which costs around $1. The study reported "no significant difference in the effectiveness" of medical masks vs. N95 respirators for prevention of influenza or other viral respiratory illness.

I can’t remember ever seeing this much global panic about a virus. The bird flu outbreak that we witnessed a number of years ago definitely shook people up, and the ebola scare received a lot of attention for a short period of time, but this coronavirus pandemic is already on an entirely different level. Despite the fact that there is an impeachment trial happening in Washington right now, this pandemic has dominated headlines day after day, and many experts are warning that what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. It appears that this virus...

New Study Evaluates Surgical Masks Vs. N95 Respirators For Preventing Influenza Among Health Care Workers Surgical masks appear to be no worse than, and nearly as effective as N95 respirators in preventing influenza in health care workers, according to a study released early online today by JAMA. The study was posted online ahead of print because of its public health implications. It will be published in the November 4 issue of JAMA. Influenza is the most important cause of medically attended acute respiratory illness worldwide and the authors write there is heightened concern this year because of the influenza pandemic...