Recent Articles
Perspective: Protecting Olympic Participants from Covid-19 — The Urgent Need for a Risk-Management Approach
New England Journal of Medicine, 2021
AK Sparrow, LM Brosseau, R Harrison, MT Osterholm
We believe the IOC’s determination to proceed with the Olympic Games is not informed by the best scientific evidence. The playbooks maintain that athletes participate at their own risk, while failing both to distinguish the various levels of risk faced by athletes and to recognize the limitations of measures such as temperature screenings and face coverings.
Letter to the Editor: Facial Masking for Covid-19
New England Journal of Medicine, 2020
LM Brosseau, CM Roy, MT Osterholm
Gandhi and Rutherford’s theory regarding the potential for variolation by means of facial masking is not consistent with the emerging science of transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
ELASTOMERIC RESPIRATORS FOR ALL HEALTHCARE WORKERS
American Journal of Infection Control - September 26, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread rapidly. Critically, there have been failures in worker protection causing avoidable infections among front line healthcare workers and other essential workers.
Substantial evidence is amassing that the inhalation of respirable aerosols is a dominant route for COVID-19 transmission. Respirators are required to effectively interrupt this transmission route and protect healthcare workers. Read the article.
SELECTING CONTROLS FOR MINIMIZING SARS-COV-2 AEROSOL TRANSMISSION IN WORKPLACES AND CONSERVING RESPIRATORY PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT SUPPLIES
Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 2021
LM Brosseau, RM Jones, R Harrison
Selected for a special online collection of articles with high Altmetric scores on trending topics in Public Health.
With growing evidence of inhalation of small infectious particles as an important mode of transmission for SARS-CoV-2, workplace risk assessments should focus on eliminating or minimizing such exposures by applying the hierarchy of controls. We adapt a control banding model for aerosol-transmissible infectious disease pandemic planning to encourage the use of source and pathway controls before receptor controls (personal protective equipment). Built on the recognition that aerosol-transmissible organisms are likely to exhibit a dose–response function, such that higher exposures result from longer contact times or higher air concentrations, this control banding model offers a systematic method for identifying a set of source and pathway controls that could eliminate or reduce the need for receptor controls.
COMMENTARY: RESPIRATORS CAN BE REUSED, BUT DECONTAMINATION NOT WELL STUDIED
Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy - April 6, 2020
Perhaps lost in the recent debate and federal recommendations on cloth masks for the general public has been the key issue of protecting those putting their lives on the line daily: hard-working healthcare workers as hospitals face limited supplies of N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) during this pandemic. In this commentary, my colleague Margaret Seitsema, PhD and I explore issues surrounding respirator reuse and decontamination. To learn more about how to optimize use of FFRs, which are personal protective devices constructed largely from filter material worn on the face that prevent inhalation of viral aerosols by the wearer, read the article.
COMMENTARY: What can masks do? Part 1: The science behind COVID-19 protection
October 14, 2021, CIDRAP
LM Brosseau, A Ulrich, K Escandon, C Anderson, MT Osterholm
Part 1 of a two-part commentary explains the differences in cloth face coverings and surgical masks, the science of respiratory protection, and the hierarchy of disease controls.
COMMENTARY: What can masks do? Part 2: What makes for a good mask study — and why most fail
October 15, 2021 Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
LM Brosseau, A Ulrich, K Escandon, C Anderson, MT Osterholm
Part 2 of a two-part commentary. We spell out why not all studies involving cloth face coverings or surgical/medical masks warrant equal consideration. We'll detail the necessary elements of a rigorous study and explore some recent studies that, though highly touted by both scientists and the lay press, fell quite a bit short of the ideal.
COMMENTARY: MASKS-FOR-ALL FOR COVID-19 NOT BASED ON SOUND DATA
Originally published April 1, 2020, updated July 16, 2020, Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy
LM Brosseau & M Sietsema
In response to the stream of misinformation and misunderstanding about the nature and role of masks and respirators as source control or personal protective equipment (PPE), my colleague Dr. Sietsema and I critically review the topic to inform ongoing COVID-19 decision-making that relies on science-based data and professional expertise. This commentary examines the (limited) scientific research that is available to inform decisions about wearing cloth masks. We continue to update this commentary as more research becomes available. Read the commentary.
COMMENTARY: COVID-19 TRANSMISSION MESSAGES SHOULD HINGE ON SCIENCE
Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy - March 16, 2020
Many experts in public health have, for very good reason, voiced frustration at the lack of science-based information they read regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This is compounded by sometimes conflicting recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But by applying what we know about similar infectious diseases and pairing it with what the data show so far with this novel coronavirus and what common sense tells us, we can advise both healthcare professionals and the general public on what steps they can take to minimize their risk. Read the commentary.