Evidence for high-grade face masks was weak, Covid inquiry told

Only the “weak evidence” that faces a better protected health workers than surgical people in the high -class facial mask epidemics has been told to the Kovid investigation.

Prophen Hopkins, Chief Medical Advisor, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said the respirator mask-known as FFP3-may have done no better performance than thin surgical masks in real-life conditions.

He said that wearing tight-fitting FFP3s can cause “significant disadvantages”, including blisters and difficulty in breathing.

“If the evidence was strong that the FFP3s actually protected the people, and we saw a certain shortage (in the infection), they must have been recommended,” he said.

Not all scientists agree on what is the controversial issue.

BBC Reported on research first Which shows an important real world advantage by wearing a high-grade mask on the hospital wards.

During the first two years of the epidemic, groups representing doctors, nurses and other health workers frequently called for immediate improvement in individual safety equipment (PPE), including comprehensive use of breathing.

FFP3s are tight-fitting masks with a built-in air filter designed to block small aerosol particles that can carry the virus.

Before they are used, each wearer will have to undergo a fitted test to ensure that the mask face is properly sealed.

For most of the epidemic, national guidance across the UK stated that healthcare workers should wear basic surgical masks rather than FFP3S, except intensive care or low number of medical conditions.

This decision was severely criticized by some employees with the doctors’ union, BMA, called a “case of life and death”.

From April 2020, the National Guidance on Face Mask was known by a group of experts in the United Kingdom known as an IPC (infection prevention and control) cell.

Its membership included representatives of NHS, government departments and health bodies, including Public Health England (PHE), which was ordered by UKHSA in 2021 to order by the then Health Secretary Mat Hancock.

An IPC cell meeting was shown on 22 December 2020, when Kovid’s new alpha variants were detected, which appeared to show disagreement about the use of high-grade FFP3 masks.

Records Said Colin Brown, who was now Deputy Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections in UKHSA, but with PHE, saying: “Our understanding of aerosol transmission has changed. The FFP3 mask (in all healthcare settings) (in all healthcare settings), an precautionary approach to transfer, when we are waiting for evidence.”

However, a comprehensive IPC cell decided that no upgrade of guidance was made at that time, and NHS Trusts were asked to continue the supply of employees with standard surgical masks in almost all cases outside intensive care.

It was not until January 2022 that advice changed, saying that FFP3 respirators should be available for “all relevant staff” based on risk evaluation.

By that point, the World Health Organization, and other health bodies had recognized that Kovid could be spread in small air particles at a distance from far away from 6.5ft (2m), some officials said that it was impossible at the beginning of the epidemic.

Professor Hopkins, who served as PHE’s Chief Covid Advisor before going to UKHSA, told the investigation that the FFP3 mask offered a high level of protection in the laboratory study, but the real -world benefits were less clear.

“Where we saw it, and repeatedly saw it and are still watching it, the evidence is weak that FFP3s have protected more than the fluid-resistant surgical mask,” he said.

“Initially, in March 2020, the risk was that we had never asked people to wear FFP3 masks for a long time.

“We saw that they get ulcers on their face and have to face breathing and challenges in getting hydrated.”

Asked about the IP cell minutes of December 2020, which was suggested that PHE was pushing back and forth for widespread use of breathing masks in Healthcare, Professor Hopkins said that there was a “really challenging time” in epidemics about entering the third wave of virus with Britain.

“The fact that the PHE was giving a separate scene and broadcast (us) is not being included,” he said.

The Covid investigation is currently taking evidence about the impact on NHS and healthcare system in all four countries of the UK.

More than 50 witnesses are expected to appear in this third section or “module”, which lasts by the end of November.