Want to Limit Respiratory Virus Infections? Mask and Test in Hospitals

MedPage Today November 27, 2024
Rachael Robertson

— Healthcare workers masking makes a difference, study found

Stopping universal masking and SARS-CoV-2 testing in hospitals led to a surge in hospital-onset respiratory viral infections relative to community infections, a cohort study found.

After these safeguards were removed, there was a 25% jump in hospital-onset respiratory viral infections compared with the preceding Omicron-dominant period (RR 1.25, 95% CI 1.02-1.53), reported Theodore Pak, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues.

When hospital staff began masking again, the rates of hospital-onset respiratory viral infections decreased by 33% (RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.52-0.85), they wrote in a JAMA Network Open research letter.

In May 2023, 10 Mass General Brigham hospitals stopped pandemic-era precautions of testing patients for SARS-CoV-2 upon...

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