The move to tighten the rules has been under consideration by Australia’s Infection Control Expert Group for two weeks,after being approved by all 32 member organisations of the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce.
AMA president Omar Khorshid expects the change,to be announced in the next few weeks,will recommend or require that N95 masks,goggles,gowns and gloves be used in interactions with patients with COVID-19,or those suspected to have it.
“If we don’t see it,we would be very upset,” he said. “There were a lot of weasel words in the previous recommendations that basically meant for routine care,people were wearing surgical masks,[and] we’ve seen transmission in those settings.”
Many states now provide N95 masks to hotel quarantine workers,though as recently as this monththis was not the case for security guards working in Perth facilities,despite warnings that surgical masks do not provide adequate protection against coronavirus for high-risk workers.
“While we can’t prove that an N95 mask will stop transmission,we are expecting the new guidelines will make it clear that that is the expectation,” Dr Khorshid said.
Current advice from the Infection Control Expert Group,last updated in March,allows surgical masks with protective eyewear to be used at a minimum in the routine care of patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19,including in hotel quarantine.