There is only “weak evidence” that high-grade face masks better protected health workers than surgical ones in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has been told. Prof Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said respirator masks – known as FFP3s – may have performed no better than thin surgical masks in real-life situations. She said there could be “significant harms” from wearing tight-fitting FFP3s, including blisters and breathing difficulties. “If the evidence was strong that FFP3s really protected people, and we saw a definitive reduction [in infections], they would have been recommended,” she said. Not all scientists agree on what has become a controversial issue. The BBC has reported on research which appears to show a significant real-world benefit from wearing higher-grade masks on hospital wards. Throughout the first two years of the pandemic, groups representing doctors, nurses, and other health workers repeatedly called for urgent improvements to personal protective equipment (PPE), including the wider use of respirators. FFP3s are tight-fitting masks with a built-in air filter designed to block out tiny aerosol particles which can carry the virus. Before they can be used, each wearer must undergo a fit test to make sure the mask is properly sealed to the face. For most of the pandemic, national guidance across the whole UK said that healthcare workers should wear basic surgical masks rather than FFP3s, except in intensive care or a small number of medical situations. The decision was heavily criticised by some staff with the doctors’ union, the BMA, calling it a “matter of life and death.”
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