Mask?

[MrFoolish]

I went for a covid booster jab about 3 weeks back. The pharmacist giving the jab wasn't wearing a mask, which surprised me. When I asked, he said he couldn't be bothered with it any more. So I didn't put mine on either!

[DrFfybes]

At our flu jabs last week the request was to wear mask if you have Covid symptoms.

Paul

[scotia]

At our COVID booster and flu jabs all persons entering were given a mask to wear if they were not wearing their own mask

[jaizan]

Like 99% of the population (or whatever the figure is), I expect the pharmacist doesn't wear a mask outside work.
So it's not necessarily rational to wear one at work.

I see the reason to wear one in hospitals, where they have an increased probability of meeting infected people.

However, the person doing the vaccines is at no higher risk than the people behind the counter in the same pharmacy. I think.

Then, if the customer is concerned, he or she could wear an FFP3 mask for self protection.

So it all seems fine to me.

[bungeejumper]

I see the reason to wear one in hospitals, where they have an increased probability of meeting infected people.

However, the person doing the vaccines is at no higher risk than the people behind the counter in the same pharmacy. I think.

That doesn't sound quite right to me. Surely, a pharmacist (or jab administeror) is at significant risk of encountering two groups of people:

1) People who are actively suffering from covid (which they may be mistaking for a cold). And who've popped in for some Beechams Powders.

2) Relatives of (1), who have been co-opted into fetching the medication for the afflicted, but who are already brewing up a dose of their own.

Masks were mandatory the other week when I got my booster at the local social centre. And also at the GP's surgery where I received my flu jab. They've got people coming in all the time with reduced immunity caused by other pre-existing health conditions; it doesn't seem so very unreasonable for them to insist on a simple additional precaution.

BJ

[Hallucigenia]

Like 99% of the population (or whatever the figure is), I expect the pharmacist doesn't wear a mask outside work.
So it's not necessarily rational to wear one at work.

Just because a lot of people do something that's not in their best interests, doesn't mean it's the sensible thing to do. And what the pharmacist does outside work is irrelevant, they are in a professional environment that the vulnerable can't avoid going to. It's not like it's a pub where vulnerable people have a choice to avoid. And my experience of jabs at pharmacies is that it happens in a little shoebox of a room with no obvious ventilation, it's a high-risk environment even for normal people.

The pharmacist probably doesn't fill in an accident book outside work (like 99% of the population), but that doesn't mean it's optional if they have an accident at work.

However, the person doing the vaccines is at no higher risk than the people behind the counter in the same pharmacy. I think.

Sorry - that's all wrong, to my eyes it's pretty much professional negligence. From what I can tell the current official guidance is this from PHE :
Health and care staff should continue to wear facemasks as part of personal protective equipment required for transmission-based precautions when working in COVID-19/respiratory care pathways, and when clinically caring for suspected/confirmed COVID-19 patients. This is likely to include settings where untriaged patients may present such as emergency departments or primary care, depending on local risk assessment.

To my mind a pharmacy is a primary care setting with untriaged patients, so the staff should be wearing masks, period. Seriously, if it was me I'd be talking to the GPhC.

if the customer is concerned, he or she could wear an FFP3 mask for self protection.

So it all seems fine to me.

You're missing the point, the mask is more to protect other people than the wearer. And in this scenario some of those people may be vulnerable but have no choice but to go to the pharmacy.

[88V8]

To my mind a pharmacy is a primary care setting with untriaged patients, so the staff should be wearing masks, period.

When we were booked for boosters at a pharmacy, the instruction was to wear a mask.

In the event, we were done at a different site, outside under a gazebo, no one masked.

The staff at the OP's pharmacy neglected the opportunity to put across the fact that it's not over, and we should still be thinking about masks.
Was on the tube two weeks ago, no one masked except me.
Too much complacency, although in view of covid's modest severity now perhaps we should be thinking just as much about masking against flu... which just isn't going to happen.

V8

[MrFoolish]

To my mind a pharmacy is a primary care setting with untriaged patients, so the staff should be wearing masks, period.

When we were booked for boosters at a pharmacy, the instruction was to wear a mask.

In the event, we were done at a different site, outside under a gazebo, no one masked.

The staff at the OP's pharmacy neglected the opportunity to put across the fact that it's not over, and we should still be thinking about masks.
Was on the tube two weeks ago, no one masked except me.
Too much complacency, although in view of covid's modest severity now perhaps we should be thinking just as much about masking against flu... which just isn't going to happen.

V8

Well this would be my question to Hallucigenia. Given that people can and do die of the flu, in the absence of covid, would he still want pharmacists to wear masks to protect against the flu? I suppose it boils down to how much risk we are prepared to live with as a society.

[Hallucigenia]

Well this would be my question to Hallucigenia. Given that people can and do die of the flu, in the absence of covid, would he still want pharmacists to wear masks to protect against the flu? I suppose it boils down to how much risk we are prepared to live with as a society.

I would note that it is culturally normal in many Asian societies for regular Joes to wear masks just on trains etc without an issue - it's not like a full NBC suit or something. (and if you have problems with glasses steaming up - either get a noseclip or get an N95 or better, the better fit means steaming up is far less of an issue.)

It's complicated as the risks vary through time, on the location, and on what viruses are prevalent at the time - flu does not behave the same as SARS2 which is almost entirely airborne. For instance Zhang & Li suggest that in an aircraft cabin flu spreads predominantly by close contact with only about a third airborne, whereas that goes up to 55% airborne in an office. And if norovirus is on the loose then you worry less about airborne spread and a lot more about fomites, so not so much masks and a lot more cleaning of hands and high-touch surfaces.

One doesn't have to be absolute about these things - but if my dentist has always worn a surgical mask then I don't see why pharmacists couldn't at least wear masks during September/October and whenever flu flares up. We have the technology to be a bit more responsive to risk these days - for instance I've heard of schools in Boston who base their Covid mask policy on what wastewater testing says. If there's a lot of Covid in sewage and hence in the local population - then N95's are mandatory, but if levels in wastewater drop, then they become optional.

And I don't think it's unreasonable for pharmacies to be one of the places that has to display a CO2 meter, in the same way that Belgian law requires of restaurants, cinemas and gyms etc - it's rubbish how the CO2 monitoring message just hasn't really penetrated here in the UK compared to other places.

[Julian]

… (and if you have problems with glasses steaming up - either get a noseclip or get an N95 or better, the better fit means steaming up is far less of an issue.)

… flu does not behave the same as SARS2 which is almost entirely airborne. For instance Zhang & Li suggest that in an aircraft cabin flu spreads predominantly by close contact with only about a third airborne, whereas that goes up to 55% airborne in an office. And if norovirus is on the loose then you worry less about airborne spread and a lot more about fomites, so not so much masks and a lot more cleaning of hands and high-touch surfaces.
…

My view is that those of us who wear glasses have an advantage. We have an instant always available fit-test mechanism. However good the mask, the efficacy is severely compromised if the fit is bad and you’re sucking in air around the edges.

On the airborne vs contact characteristics that is something where we need constant vigilance wrt SARS-CoV-2. One great evolutionary swerve that the virus could make to blindside us is to acquire mutations that make it able to remain viable (capable of infecting) for significantly longer on various common surfaces.

- Julian