masks in the hostpial and surgery environments

[Steven Avery]

Some refs.

Postoperative wound infections and surgical face masks: A controlled study (1991)
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01658736

These results indicate that the use of face masks might be reconsidered. Masks may be used to protect the operating team from drops of infected blood and from airborne infections, but have not been proven to protect the patient operated by a healthy operating team.

"If masks don't work, then why do surgeons wear them?" (2020)
Jim Meehan, MD
https://www.meehanmd.com/blog/2020-07-22-if-masks-dont-work-then-why-do-surgeons-wear-them/

Unmasking the surgeons: the evidence base behind the use of facemasks in surgery (2015)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0141076815583167

" Examination of the literature revealed much of the published work on the matter to be quite dated and often studies had poorly elucidated methodologies. As a result, we recommend caution in extrapolating their findings to contemporary surgical practice. However, overall there is a lack of substantial evidence to support claims that facemasks protect either patient or surgeon from infectious contamination. "