Masking Safety?

Coughing produces 10 times more virus-containing aerosol than simply speaking or breathing (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/03/covid-coughing-study-suggests-nhs-staff-at-far-greater-risk-than-thought). It is also known that health workers are about 4 times more likely to contract a Covid-19 infection, than the general population. Indeed, almost 900 health care workers in England and Wales died from an infection by this virus, between March and December 2020. Counter-intuitively, people working on general wards are twice as likely to get an infection, than counterparts in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Although the latter are dealing with sicker patients, ICU's are better ventilated and workers there, get superior Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). It had been assumed that ICU's were more dangerous than general wards. The Royal College of Nursing, have taken these new findings into account, and are calling for FFP3 face masks to be provided to anyone caring for actual or suspected Covid-19 patients. FFP3 (it stands for Filtering Face-Piece 3) face masks, have a minimum filtration rate of 98% and 5 layers of protection. They are much more effective than the standard disposable issue. One can understand, why FFP3 face mask use was restricted to people in ICUs in the earliest days of the pandemic (PPE was difficult to obtain then). Given the new evidence and the easier access to PPE, it now seems logical (if more expensive), to issue these face masks to all people working in hospitals and care homes. I would also suggest adding care workers who visit people in their homes, General Practioners, Dentists, Police and Teachers to the list. This provision will help to reduce the transmission of Sars-CoV-2 in all its variants and boost the confidence of people who have to work face-to-face with the public.