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1/ @CMOH_Alberta blaming HCW for hospital outbreaks in failing to use the "appropriate precautions" at all times during their shifts is... interesting (see answer at ), given that AB's recommended HCW PPE isn't appropriate for an airborne disease.
2/ Several countries have moved onto airborne precautions for any suspected COVID-19 patient, because the science is telling us that we need to be concerned with aerosols during any interaction with a patient who is shedding virus. Alberta's approach doesn't jive with that.
3/ The approach we're using in AB is bad. HCW are being blamed for failing to properly use PPE and hospital infrastructure that isn't appropriate for an airborne disease when outbreaks of that same very disease develop in hospitals across the province (duh!).
4/ Other places are updating their methods. Quebec is moving to N95 use by HCW in COVID hot-zones ( https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-hot-zones-n95-masks-to-be-mandatory-starting-thursday-for-health-care-workers-1.5301707).
5/ Check out Australia's recent guidance. https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/minimising-the-risk-of-infectious-respiratory-disease-transmission-in-the-context-of-covid-19-the-hierarchy-of-controls. They specifically mention droplet AND airborne precautions for HCW.
6/ There's examples everywhere. Here's a paper written by paediatric specialists and IDs that concluded that surgical masks were not appropriate protection after several of them caught COVID-19 during interaction with an asymptomatic carrier. https://academic.oup.com/ofid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ofid/ofab036/6121257
7/ If you read the above and still think that hospital outbreaks are fully the fault of HCW in Alberta for not using their droplet precautions appropriately, you'll fit in quite well with this province's decision making bodies. Then you can gaslight HCW who deserve better PPE.
