Research has shown that a hospital in the NHS that changed the face masks used on Covid-19 wards saw a dramatic drop of up to 100 percent in hospital-acquired coronavirus infection rates among its staff.The Cambridge hospital Addenbrookes upgraded the masks from fluid-resistant surgical masks (FRSMs), to filtering facial piece 3 (FFP3) respirators. This was done in response to data collected by its staff.Public Health England (PHE), had recommended that healthcare workers who care for Covid-19 patients use FRSMs to protect their respiratory health.PHE recommended an FFP3 respirator be used in cases where an aerosol-generating procedure was being performed, such as when inserting a tube into a patient's windpipe.Recent updates to guidance have required NHS organizations to assess the Covid-19 threat to staff and to provide FFP3 respirators as appropriate.Since the outbreak of the pandemic in 1918, Addenbrookes has been testing employees for Covid-19 even though they did not have any symptoms.The risk of infection was higher for healthcare workers who care for Covid-19 patients than those working on non-Covid wards. This is despite the fact that they were using recommended respiratory protection equipment. The hospitals infection control committee changed the type of masks that staff used on Covid-19 wards.In seven of the eight weeks that researchers analyzed, Covid-19 cases among staff in Covid-19 wards were higher than those on non-Covid wards.After the protection equipment was changed, infection rates on both types of ward were similar.Although the research is not yet peer-reviewed it will be released soon due to the urgent need for information about the pandemic.Dr Chris Illingworth from the MRC Biostatistics Unit of Cambridge University stated that the majority of Covid-19-related infections in healthcare workers was likely to have been caused by direct exposure to Covid-19 patients.FFP3 respirators dramatically reduced the number of cases due to Covid-19 ward exposure. In fact, our model suggests FFP3 respirators may be responsible for reducing ward-based infections to zero after their introduction.The researchers' mathematical model showed that the risk for direct infection while working in a non-Covid-19 unit was low during the study period and consistently lower than that of community-based exposure.However, the risk for direct infection in a Covid-19 unit before the introduction of respiratory protection equipment was much higher than that of community-based exposure. Staff on Covid-19 units were 47 times more likely to contract infection than staff on non-Covid-19 units.Dr Michael Weekes from the Department of Medicine at Cambridge University said that the data shows there is an urgent need for the PPE provided to frontline healthcare workers.The upgrade of equipment to ensure that FFP3 masks can be offered to all healthcare workers who care for patients with Covid-19 would reduce the incidence of infection, increase safety and ease some of the strain on already stretched healthcare services due to absence of key staff.Anyone who has not yet accepted their invitation to vaccinate is clearly a priority.
