Handwashing, Gloves, and Masks: Oh My!
In 1847, German obstetrician Ignaz Semmelweis saw that obstetric patients died of childbed fever at a much higher rate than those treated by midwives...he suggested to his colleagues that they wash their hands
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whn.global/handwashing-gl…
In 1847, German obstetrician Ignaz Semmelweis saw that obstetric patients died of childbed fever at a much higher rate than those treated by midwives...he suggested to his colleagues that they wash their hands
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whn.global/handwashing-gl…
..before examining their new mother patients. His idea was ridiculed and ignored. Patients continued to suffer unnecessary illness and death until Louis Pasteur’s experimental confirmation of germ theory in 1861 was disseminated and accepted in the medical community. ..
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"Today handwashing is a mainstay of medical protection and of basic hygiene far beyond the medical arena.
"When I was a child in the 1960s and 1970s, my dentist and physician conducted exams and dental work with clean hands but no gloves.
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"When I was a child in the 1960s and 1970s, my dentist and physician conducted exams and dental work with clean hands but no gloves.
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"Since the 1980s, and HIV, that would be unthinkable. Gloves have become part of standard healthcare precautions, and expanded to other areas such as food service.
"Four years of COVID-19 pandemic have brought much research, debate, misinformation and confusion..
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"Four years of COVID-19 pandemic have brought much research, debate, misinformation and confusion..
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"..about effective prevention and mitigation, largely centered around droplet or airborne transmission, the effectiveness of different kinds of masks and respirators, and what rates of COVID call for which kinds of protection.
"The research is unambiguous:
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"The research is unambiguous:
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"COVID-19 is spread by airborne transmission. Tiny particles float in the air for hours and far further than 6 feet. Anyone who breathes air with COVID-19 can get the disease.
"Surgical masks are not designed to protect against airborne particles.
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"Surgical masks are not designed to protect against airborne particles.
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"Virus particles enter nose and mouth through the gaps between the mask and the face. Well-fitting N-95 respirator masks create a seal around the nose and mouth preventing pathogens entering or leaving, and are of materials that allow normal breathing as they trap the virus.
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