I’ve written this post in preparation for Wednesday’s IPS Journal Club (register here). The paper that I have chosen for the Journal Club is this one in the Journal of Infection Prevention, comparing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 dispersal through the air with an inhaler vs. nebuliser.
Continue readingSARS-CoV-2
Does universal masking in hospitals prevent healthcare-associated SARS-CoV-2 infection?
A new study in JHI uses a pragmatic time series analysis to provide some data to suggest that stopping a universal mask mandate at St. George’s Hospital in London did not result in an increase in healthcare-associated SARS-CoV-2. The authors were careful to point out that the findings do not show that “masks don’t work”, but rather that in this setting, at this time of the pandemic, removing a universal masking mandate didn’t result in a detectable increase in the rate of healthcare-associated SARS-CoV-2.
Continue readingCOVID-19 and PPE: don’t forget your eyes!
One of the questions I get asked a lot is “where is the evidence that wearing eye protection reduces the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2, because it’s really annoying to wear and creates other risks related to reduced vision”. A new systematic review examines the effect of eye protection on reducing healthcare worker exposure to SARS-CoV-2. The short answer is that there is enough evidence to convince me that eye protection should be part of our SARS-CoV-2 PPE ensemble.
Continue readingEarly data on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in England
Results from the SIREN study published yesterday bring us some much-needed good news: the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is very effective in preventing symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in healthcare workers!
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Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 