I wrote a letter to @nytimes, like many of you, after reading this problematic article, but I never heard back, so I figured I'd include it here. With thanks to: @eliowa @GermHunterMD @dan_diekema @mike_edmond nytimes.com/2020/06/01/hea…
As infectious diseases physicians, the specialists primarily responsible for controlling infection within hospitals, we strongly dispute the author’s interpretation of data referenced in the June 1st article, “Medical Workers Should Use Respirator Masks, Not Surgical Masks.”
The headline itself, phrased as an official recommendation, could cause innumerable problems. The author draws inaccurate conclusions from a study published in the Lancet, which is a review and meta-analysis that draws from 172 studies.
Infection control committees and organizations have been working nonstop to review SARS-CoV-2 transmission data to develop evidence-based recommendations. We don’t know which scientists the author means when she states that “scientists have said for months”...
...that “N95 or other respirator masks are far superior...to surgical masks” for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection. No study has directly compared N95 and surgical masks for SARS-CoV-2 prevention.
The statement, “Study after study has indicated that the virus can also spread via tiny droplets less than 5 microns, called aerosols” is also false. While laboratory experiments have shown that SARS-CoV-2 particles can remain in the air,...
...this does not mean that infection necessarily occurs via aerosolization. Epidemiological data does not support that airborne transmission plays a significant role in the spread of SARS-CoV-2, as it does with measles or tuberculosis, for example.
(The use of N95 masks is recommended during aerosol-generating procedures, however.) In order to determine whether N95 masks are superior to surgical masks we need evidence based on well-designed comparative studies, not abruptly drawn conclusions from observational data.
This article complicates our efforts to mitigate this pandemic. It is critical that we focus more on educating the public about risk-mitigation strategies and do all we can to avoid spreading misinformation, heightening anxiety, and causing more confusion and distrust of experts.
I appreciate all these questions and concerns. It’s clearly complicated. But it’s not like ID docs and infection preventionists don’t take this all extremely seriously. I have nightmares about staff and myself getting COVID-19...
