SHEA, and these other "expert" organizations remain determined to get rid of the N95 mask as the best protection from swine flu for HCW. This time they wrote to the White House.
I do not have a warm and fuzzy feeling about SHEA and these other organizations. Let them work at the bedside in nothing but a surgical mask. What they do not mention in their letter is that the IOM made the recommendations not based on McIntyre's study since it was not been published yet when the guidance was issued. IOM based it on other evidence.
This seems like a contest of wills, and a turf war. The doctor representing the 3M Company at the recent CIDRAP Conference I attended in Minneapolis, called it "The
Holy War."
I know staff that were infected during the time when my hospital was using surgical masks instead of the N95. They had to use the Tamiflu blanket on the staff of an entire
unit. If it was just a nurse or tech here or there on different floors, they would have said it was community acquired, but they did not say that.
I do not want to go back to that time. Even if I have to buy my own mask I am wearing the N95. I intend to get vaccinated as well ASAP, but will not depend solely on either to protect me. I suspect that the virus may outrun the vax in the future, and as an asthmatic, I do not want to get sick.
Originally posted by nfectiousdiseasenews.com
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