More respiratory infections caught in hospitals without masking and COVID tests

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-11-28 03:00

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A study of US hospital admissions shows a sharp increase in the number of RSV, 'flu, and COVID infections caught in hospital after universal masking and COVID testing measures were removed. Researchers looked at data from over 640,000 patient admissions to ten Massachusetts hospitals between late 2020 and early 2024. The hospital-onset respiratory infections increased by 25% when universal masking and testing measures were stopped in mid-2023, before dropping again when healthcare staff began to mask. The study authors say this shows masking and testing could be effective to protect hospitalised patients.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Harvard Medical School, USA

Funder: Dr Pak was supported by grant T32AI007061 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and grant K08HS030118 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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