Face masks caused 'no change' to Covid spread rate in hospitals, study suggests

06 April 2023 , 22:01

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Study suggests masks may have had little effect on slowing Covid spread in medical units (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Wearing masks had no impact on controlling Covid in hospitals, a study suggests.

Surveys at one site showed that dumping mandatory face coverings in the middle of last year did not affect viral spread.

Dr Aodhan Breathnach, co-author of the study, said: “Many hospitals have kept using masks at significant financial and environmental cost and despite the substantial barrier to communication.

“We hope this empirical evidence can help inform a rational and proportionate policy.”

The study was carried out at St George’s Hospital, South West London.

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Infection rates were compared from December 2021 to June 2022, when masks were compulsory for all pa­­­tients and staff, and June to September 2022 when the policy was relaxed.

Basic blue masks were used as protection from start of the pandemic (Getty Images)

Once levels of outside community transmission were taken into account there was no change in the rate of Covid spread on wards.

Millions of basic blue masks were used by hospitals as the pandemic took hold. Many establishments still use hundreds of thousands a year.

At the height of the crisis doctors called for higher-grade masks but the Government was unable to procure them in large quantities.

Martin Bagot