Opinion: Without training, N95 masks may not protect workers on the Covid-19 frontlines
A key strategy for protecting health care workers on the frontlines of fighting the highly transmissible novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is the use of personal protective equipment, including the type of face mask known as an N95 respirator or N95 mask. When used properly, these masks filter out at least 95% of airborne particles. But used without training, the masks could not only expose workers to the virus but also lull them into thinking they are protected.
Firefighters aren’t given a mask and helmet and sent into burning buildings without first being trained how to use the equipment to protect themselves. We should be doing the same thing for health care workers, but that doesn’t seem to be standard operating procedure.
