The quality of face masks healthcare workers wear makes a huge difference to their risk of coronavirus infection, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust research has found.

Wearing a high grade mask known as an FFP3 can provide up to 100% protection.

By contrast, there is a far greater chance of staff wearing standard issue surgical masks catching the virus.

Though fluid resistant, these masks are relatively flimsy and loose-fitting and are not meant to screen out infectious aerosols - tiny virus particles that can linger in the air and are now widely accepted as a source of coronavirus infection.

The study found that staff caring for Covid patients on “red” wards faced a risk that was up to 47 times higher than those on “green” or non-Covid wards.

In the weeks following this move, the rate of infections among healthcare workers on red wards dropped spectacularly, quickly falling to the level experienced by staff on green wards where there were no Covid patients.

The study concludes that “cases attributed to ward-based exposure fell significantly, with FFP3 respirators providing 31-100% protection (and most likely 100%) against infection from patients with Covid-19”.

The call for FFP3 masks to be issued more widely is in line with a long-standing demand by the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and many other professional bodies.
Source : BBC