This paper is interesting for a few reasons. It shows that mask mandates in healthcare protect patients from infections, and removing mask mandates in healthcare harms patients. A facility without a mask mandate is making a *deliberate choice* known to harm patients. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... - ThreadSky

mark-ungrin.bsky.social • 90 days ago

This paper is interesting for a few reasons. It shows that mask mandates in healthcare protect patients from infections, and removing mask mandates in healthcare harms patients.

A facility without a mask mandate is making a *deliberate choice* known to harm patients.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2827170

Comments

starlightshelling.bsky.social•90 days ago

A fifth grader could figure that out but here we are 😒

radianthostility.bsky.social•90 days ago

Don't the Utilitarians have something about this? Like positive duties or something?

rogerwagnermdphd.bsky.social•90 days ago

Unfortunately, the current political climate makes these harder to implement.

mark-ungrin.bsky.social•90 days ago

Yeah, but step one is for them to stop falsely claiming that these decisions are based on science. If they had the integrity to say "If everyone wore N95s we'd save a lot of lives, but we're not going to because politics", that'd be one thing. But cowardice is the easier path, and we pay the price.

rogerwagnermdphd.bsky.social•90 days ago

Just pray that H5N1 doesn’t go human-to-human in the next 4years, as that would be a nightmare.

mark-ungrin.bsky.social•90 days ago

Yes - hopefully never, but if it would at least hold off until we get some grownups in charge of infection control, that would be nice. With so many key people who pretty much gambled their careers on bad takes from 2020 (and can't admit they bet wrong), we're totally unprepared if H5N1 takes off.

panickedfoodie.bsky.social•90 days ago

📌

queenofland.bsky.social•86 days ago

Which is wild as the UK HSA still tried to claim in the covid inquiry that there’s no proof masks work and all masks must be fit tested or they’re useless. They insist more studies must be done.

So…how many more need doing? We are heading into UBI trial run numbers now…

mark-ungrin.bsky.social•86 days ago

I'm pretty sure the IPC types over there know they screwed up by now, but they have the choice between appearing stupid, or appearing negligent. And since bad PPE guidance has killed a bunch of people....

mark-ungrin.bsky.social•90 days ago

Secondly, while positive, this medical mask data still substantially under-counts the cost of misinformed hospital IPC practices. N95s provide much better protection against bioaerosol hazards such as COVID, and would have prevented many more infections.
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/cmr.00124-23

mark-ungrin.bsky.social•90 days ago

Hospital infection control policies are driven by small numbers of extremely poor-quality studies, with major and obvious biases that are suspiciously consistent with the conflicts of interest held by their authors.

The best antidote to faith in these studies is to read them: https://osf.io/preprints/metaarxiv/ey7bj

steve4321.bsky.social•90 days ago

And as I'm sure you know, they're all so driven by ginancial considerations far more than health considerations.

mark-ungrin.bsky.social•90 days ago

There may be some financial COIs, but the big ones are around culpability for what is likely the worst medical error in human history. We go over that in more detail in the pre-print linked above.

When claims that airborne mitigations don't work come from people who fought airborne mitigations...🤔

steve4321.bsky.social•88 days ago

Yes, very interesting. And your work is good. I've seen it quite a bit following you on Twitter.

mark-ungrin.bsky.social•88 days ago

Thanks - glad it's useful!

mark-ungrin.bsky.social•90 days ago

It's also worth taking a moment to reflect on what this information means in light of that same system forbidding patients from even asking their healthcare providers to mask.

Hospital leaders make policy to protect themselves, not patients - even if it kills you.

https://bsky.app/profile/bilboyaga.bsky.social/post/3kjm5vmicjw2b

jmolofsson.bsky.social•90 days ago

📌

radianthostility.bsky.social•90 days ago

"escorted off the property" is such a great euphemism. And "escort" is a person or group that protects you while you do you thing. "Escorted off the property" is when you're thrown out under threat of violence.

goodgreatokayish.bsky.social•90 days ago

Yes. This. How can we expect them to understand science when they don’t. Understand. Science.

goodgreatokayish.bsky.social•90 days ago

📌

thesaltyinkslinger.bsky.social•90 days ago

📌

tedpak.bsky.social•86 days ago

First author here, happy to answer questions!

For those of you reacting: Duh, why was this study necessary? I have a thread for you... https://bsky.app/profile/tedpak.bsky.social/post/3lc4irqzrsk2w

#MedSky #IDsky

captainconstance.bsky.social•89 days ago

Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying that taking airborne precautions during a pandemic caused by an airborne virus....works? No shit.
I know people that lost their loved ones at my local hospital, and other person who can't access safe care there.

melodijoadela.bsky.social•90 days ago

📌

aurorajoy.bsky.social•90 days ago

📌

j071h11.bsky.social•90 days ago

📌

wolfeagle1989.bsky.social•89 days ago

American health insurance companies, and large American employers with self-funded healthcare plans and corporate legal staff, need to start suing hospitals to recover additional costs incurred as a result of hospital-acquired COVID infections related to willfully inadequate infection control.

mark-ungrin.bsky.social•89 days ago

That is a very interesting thought.

The inquiry into the mismanagement of SARS-CoV-1 was crystal clear about the need for a precautionary approach involving N95s, plus more recent warnings.

https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/e_records/SARS/report/v1.html

@jmcrookston.bsky.social
@blakemurdoch.bsky.social

gregorytravis.com•90 days ago

It's a little too late for us to suddenly discover that masks actually work instead of just accepting pronunciations that they don't at face value

Anyone who understands liability understands why the myth that masks don't work was so powerful and pervasive

acap42.bsky.social•90 days ago

📌

organicbotanic.bsky.social•88 days ago

Hard to imagine how managers sleep at night, why staff don’t rebel - except to change now to routinely using masks, even mandating them - would admit fault in the past? Thus opens this all up to claims of past harm to patients and staff?

mark-ungrin.bsky.social•88 days ago

Hospital IPC is trapped at the Venn diagram intersection of motivated reasoning, poor-quality training that confuses "Evidence Based Medicine" with science, and the "fake-it-'til-you-make-it-and-never-admit-error" mentality that boosts people up the ladder in institutional medicine.

tidypony.bsky.social•90 days ago

Saw this today and remembered how pouty my doctor was when I asked her to put on a mask for my Welcome to Medicare appointment last June as wastewater started to tell on the summer COVID-19 spike.

Unsurprisingly, the welcoming part deteriorated from there.

njean416.bsky.social•88 days ago

📌

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply