It's not all or nothing. If that were the case, health care workers wouldn't be wearing them. There are papers out of Wuhan, comparing mask wearing and non-wearing healthcare workers, by the way. No infections among mask wearers, many among non-wearers. (I'll find paper again).
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Replying to @zeynep @domillima
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.18.20021881v1.full.pdf … Look at what Taiwan did again. They distributed masks, blocked hoarding, ramped up domestic production. Much saner, and health care people have the masks they need, plus lower rate of infection among the public, too.
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Replying to @zeynep
That’s exactly the paper. Methodologically flawed. N95 use in a particular ward generalized to people out in public. Yes if we had unlimited supply everyone could do what they please. These public health recommendations are couched in the context the resources we have.
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Replying to @domillima @zeynep
The paper does not generalize to the public. Its conclusions are occupation-specific. Baffling to see the resistance to a tool that almost certainly carries no harm, yet has epidemiological support, several possible mechanisms, and some modest evidence of effectiveness.
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Replying to @ataraxisfinch @domillima
The issue is the shortage, and I think a lot of people in health think telling folks to preserve them for the sick will work when, in my view and experience, it backfires and encourages hoarding.
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Replying to @zeynep @domillima
There is no shortage! I know several suppliers that have stock. It’s just poor supply management and resourcing.
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Replying to @ataraxisfinch @zeynep
I didn’t say the paper makes that conclusion—the paper is erroneously being used to that end, not by me. As for your claim that there is no shortage. I’m a doctor. Taking care of patients. There’s a shortage at my hospital. We are canceling elective surgeries because of it.
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Replying to @domillima @zeynep
I’m aware that masks are in short supply in hospitals, but I can assure you and provide evidence that there are factories producing regulated masks that can ship tomorrow. So this seems like a hospital supply management issue sadly.
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Replying to @ataraxisfinch @domillima
If you have any such connections, I highly, highly encourage you to step in and make connections and facilitate this. Hospitals are desparately trying to buy more and cannot find any.
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Replying to @zeynep @domillima
Will try and get through to hospital procurement and report back. Suspect they have bureaucratic barriers but fingers crossed.
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Please! The crisis is terrible and if you have any sourcing, hospitals are in dire need.
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