Universal Mask Policy Reduces The Risk Of COVID-19 Among Healthcare Workers

Henry Ford's early implementation of a universal mask policy in the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a reduced risk of acquiring COVID-19 among healthcare workers at Henry Ford.

Henry Ford's early implementation of a universal mask policy in the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with reduced risk of acquiring COVID-19 among healthcare workers at their sector as per the study at Henry Ford Health System, published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Correlation between the implementation of Henry Ford's universal mask policy and a significant drop in the rate at which its Healthcare workers tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 was discovered through the retrospective analysis of an internal hospital quality metric reporting analytics database that was not associated with electronic medical records.

Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.

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Healthcare workers have a threefold increased risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 compared to the general population. Hence Henry Ford's early implementation of a universal mask policy in the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a reduced risk of acquiring COVID-19. (by half every 10.5 - 13.5 days after 30 March 2020) among healthcare workers at Henry Ford.

The COVID-19 cases among Henry Ford's healthcare workers began to fall with downward trend as the diagnoses and hospitalizations across the State of Michigan continued to rise through late March 2020 by the time of the first peak of COVID-19.

"This research reinforces the fact that mask wearing is effective in reducing the risk of acquiring COVID-19 and validated our decision early on to implement the universal mask policy, not only to protect our team members, but also to ensure they are able to care for members of the community who had contracted COVID-19. At Henry Ford Health System, our universal mask policy issued on March 26, 2020 ensured all staff, both clinical and non-clinical, received surgical or procedural masks and mandated that staff wear a mask at work while also following all other personal protective equipment requirements. Our hope is that the findings of this study continue to encourage members of the community to wear a mask in line with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations," says Steven Kalkanis, M.D., CEO of Henry Ford Medical Group.

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Evidence states that the healthcare workers have a threefold increased risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 compared to the general population. 19.2% healthcare workers at Henry Ford were symptomatic for COVID-19 and underwent SARS-CoV-2 testing from March 12 - August 10, 2020.

The single change point in the data occurred when the rate of new cases began to trend downward before March 28-30 as the odds of a tested healthcare worker having a positive result reduced by half every 10.5 - 13.5 days.

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"At a time when much was unknown about the novel coronavirus, this initiative truly helped keep our healthcare workers safe", says Dee Dee Wang, M.D., Director of Structural Heart Imaging at Henry Ford Hospital and principal investigator of the study, by expressing his gratitude to the team.

The healthcare workers and community members should remain vigilant and continue to wear a mask in accordance with CDC recommendations, inspite of the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-variants in the community.

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Onsite expertise and oversight for the vaccine administrations, medical care, and operations are being provided by Henry Ford at the Ford Field mass vaccination site. Ford Field plans to set up 68 vaccination pods on the concourse and is open to those who meet the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services vaccine guidelines.

Source-Medindia