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The recommendation announced by the Government that face masks should now be worn in crowded workplaces, places of worship, and also in busy and crowded outdoor spaces is a new beginning.
Following is a summary of recent evidence by HIQA on the effectiveness of masks in reducing the risk of spreading Covid-19, as well as observations on successful practices in other countries.
The National Public Health Emergency Team had considered the matter meaningfully during its eight-hour meeting on Wednesday this week and the move was specifically recommended by Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan on foot of that meeting.
Their recommendation was that face masks, but not visors, should be worn in all common areas in indoor workplaces, including shared offices, hallways, and other shared workspaces.
He also recommended that face masks, but not visors, be worn in all places of worship, as well as in crowded and crowded outdoor spaces where there is a large congregation and where social distancing may not be possible.
It’s all a long way from the repeated arguments against the public wearing face masks adopted by NPHET and Dr. Holohan during the first months of the pandemic.
Back then, Dr. Holohan and others cited a litany of reasons why masks would be an ineffective measure for the general public.
We were told, for example, that people could become contaminated by improperly handling the masks, that people would not use them correctly, that they were not as airtight as medical grade masks and therefore would not contain the virus, that many people for a variety of reasons, including medical reasons, may not be able to tolerate them and should not be asked to use them.
They also told us that the experts did not want the public competing with the HSE to buy what in those early days of the pandemic was critical personal protective equipment, but scarce enough.
The fact that the attitudes of our public health experts have changed since then underscores how much we have learned through scientific experimentation and analysis over the past nine months.
The HIQA report that solidified the argument was released earlier this month.
It came to the unequivocal conclusion that the use of masks should be part of a comprehensive package of prevention and control measures to limit the spread of certain respiratory viral diseases, including Covid-19.
Face masks, he noted, will provide protection for wearers when in contact with an infected person.
But they will also prevent transmission to other people from a person who is already infected.
The HIQA report discussed model simulations using data relevant to Covid-19 dynamics in New York and Washington states in the US, suggesting that the widespread adoption of face masks, even relatively ineffective, may significantly reduce community transmission of Covid-19 and reduce the peak of hospitalizations and deaths.
He also said that when the public wears face masks all the time, and not only from the first appearance of symptoms, the number of effective reproduction of the virus can be reduced to below 1, leading to mitigating the spread of the epidemic. .
It concluded that any type of general mask use is likely to reduce viral exposure and the risk of infection at the population level despite imperfect fit or adherence, the exact opposite of the previous arguments put forward by the experts.
But the HIQA study also underscored that masks and face shields should not be viewed in isolation.
They should be considered as part of broader policy packages because they are insufficient by themselves to provide an adequate level of protection or source control.
And that is precisely what is happening now in Ireland.
In its efforts to ensure that people can enjoy the holiday season, the government had to weigh a number of different risks.
The National Public Health Emergency Team has warned that the daily burden of confirmed Covid-19 infections is much higher than they would like.
This means that the strength of the infection in Ireland, although less than almost anywhere else in Europe, is still greater than the authorities would like. As a result, we are vulnerable to the impact of any increase in the rate of spread of the virus.
Add to that the certainty of an increase in social interactions over the next month.
Based on the pandemic modeling conducted on behalf of NPHET, it is highly likely that we will find ourselves dealing with a third wave of infections in early January.
NPHET has also warned the Government that the model predicts that this next third wave will occur much more quickly and with higher mortality than the wave of infection that we are emerging from right now.
In light of all these risks, it follows that everything that can be done must be done to compensate for the opportunities we are taking, moving from Level 5 to Level 3 of social restrictions.
That’s where having to wear face masks in all common settings, in indoor workplaces, as well as in crowded outdoor spaces comes into play.
There is now broad agreement among scientists that this is a really important measure that will help reduce the spread and offset some of the risks we are about to take.
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