Originally Posted by
jfsully
I worked on an open hospital unit where nobody was masked. We had a COVID+ staff person start coughing at work. Within a week about 90% of our patients were COVID+. This was early in the year. Now all staff are masked, and patients are encouraged to mask, but not required. In the months since then, we have had several (masked at work) staff members test COVID+ but no further patients testing positive. This is not a study. It is a small population. It is an anecdote. But covering your mouth when you are sick makes sense, and in my experience masks have been part of what has slowed down spread of the virus. Maybe we're also just washing our hands more and that is sufficient. I find the objections to masks, and the idea that they are harmful, to be nonsensical from a medical perspective. I'm sympathetic to the social/political arguments, but I have yet to be convinced that there is a medical harm to wearing masks.