https://archive.md/Zki7D
'Stopping universal masking and SARS-CoV-2 testing in hospitals led to a surge
in hospital-onset respiratory viral infections relative to community
infections, a cohort study found.
After these safeguards were removed, there was a 25% jump in hospital-onset
respiratory viral infections compared with the preceding Omicron-dominant
period (RR 1.25, 95% CI 1.02-1.53), reported Theodore Pak, MD, PhD, of
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues.
When hospital staff began masking again, the rates of hospital-onset
respiratory viral infections decreased by 33% (RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.52-0.85), they
wrote in a
JAMA Network Open research letter.
In May 2023, 10 Mass General Brigham hospitals stopped pandemic-era precautions
of testing patients for SARS-CoV-2 upon admission and requiring masking. During
universal testing, SARS-CoV-2 tests were collected for 92.9% of patients
compared with 26.5% after universal testing ended.
"When our healthcare system stopped universal admission testing and masking
there was, after adjustment, a 25% increase in hospital-onset respiratory viral
infections, which includes COVID, flu, and RSV [respiratory syncytial virus],
compared to before," Pak said.
"This sort of gave us a natural opportunity to look at a before-and-after then
in terms of rates of hospital-onset COVID, adjusting for all the other things
that we could in this kind of study, particularly community rates of COVID
infection," Pak told
MedPage Today.
In January 2024, Mass General Brigham reinstituted masking for healthcare
workers but not patients, which led to hospital-onset respiratory viral
infections declining by one-third.
"This is a helpful trend to look at because it suggests that these
interventions, when you stop them, are associated with increases in
hospital-onset respiratory viruses, and then when you restart them, they're
associated with a decrease," Pak said.'
Via Violet Blue’s
Pandemic Roundup: December 5, 2024
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-117349344
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
