Becker's Hospital Review

125 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY Don't write off neck gaiters yet, researchers say By Mackenzie Bean N eck gaiters are still a viable option to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and are likely better than wearing no mask at all, researchers and health experts told e New York Times. Backlash against neck gaiters, a thin tube of fabric worn around the neck, erupted in Au- gust when researchers published a study detailing a new, inexpensive method of testing the effectiveness of face masks. Researchers found that people wearing neck gaiters and bandanas emitted a higher droplet count when speaking than control tests involving no masks. However, researchers have since said their findings have been misconstrued. "Our intent was not to say this mask doesn't work, or never use neck gaiters," study au- thor Martin Fischer, PhD, a chemist and physicist at Durham, N.C.-based Duke Univer- sity, told the Times. "Our intent was for this technology to get out there so companies and organizations can test their own masks. A mask doesn't have to be perfect for it to work." Aer the study came out, Linsey Marr, PhD, an aerosol scientist at Blacksburg-based Virginia Tech and leading expert in airborne disease transmission, conducted her own research on neck gaiters with Jin Pan, a graduate student studying biological particles. e pair found that neck gaiters prevented 100 percent of large 20-micron droplets and at least 50 percent of 1-micron aerosols. Some homemade cloth masks performed worse than gaiters. e Virginia Tech researchers concluded that masks or coverings that have two layers of fabric and fit snugly offer the most protection. "I've been recommending neck gaiters, and my kids wear neck gaiters," Dr. Marr told the Times. "ere's nothing inherent about a neck gaiter that should make it any worse than a cloth mask. It comes down to the fabric and how well it fits." n 'I'm fighting a war against COVID-19 and a war against stupidity,' says CMO of Houston hospital By Molly Gamble A fter two hours of sleep a night for four months and seeing a member of his team contract the virus, Jo- seph Varon, MD, is growing exasperated. "I'm pretty much fighting two wars: A war against COVID and a war against stupid- ity," Dr. Varon, CMO and chief of critical care at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, told NBC News July 31. "And the problem is the first one, I have some hope about winning. But the second one is becoming more and more difficult." Dr. Varon noted that whether it's infor- mation backed by science or common sense, people throughout the U.S. are not listening. "The thing that annoys me the most is that we keep on doing our best to save all these people, and then you get another batch of people that are doing exactly the opposite of what you're telling them to do." In an interview with NPR, Dr. Varon said he has woken up at dawn every day for the past four months and has headed to the hospital. There, he spends six to 12 hours on rounds before seeing new ad- missions. He then returns home to sleep two hours, at most. He said his staff is physically and emo- tionally drained. UMMC nurse Christina Mathers spoke with NBC News from a hospital bed in the segment, noting that she had tested pos- itive for COVID-19 after not feeling well during one of her shifts. "All the fighting, all the screaming, all the finger pointing — enough is enough," Ms. Mathers told NBC. "People just need to listen to us. We're not going to lie. Why would we lie?" Ms. Mathers has worked every other day since April 29, according to The Atlantic, which created a photo essay of Dr. Varon and the UMMC team at work. n Fauci: Temperature checks often 'notoriously inaccurate' By Molly Gamble A nthony Fauci, MD, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infec- tious Diseases, said the White House and NIH have abandoned tem- perature checks to screen for coronavirus, according to ABC News. "We have found at the NIH, that it is much much better to just question people when they come in and save the time, because the temperatures are notoriously inaccurate, many times," Dr. Fauci said at an Aug. 13 event with the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Dr. Fauci noted that temperature checks are especially unreliable on hot summer days. His own temperature has read as high as 103 degrees before getting into air conditioning. In workplaces, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has said temperature checks are most beneficial when employees take their tem- perature at home and act accordingly based on the result versus employers administering tests to employees upon arrival at the work site. In schools, the CDC has recommended daily temperature screenings of staff and students if possible, but does not specify whether those tests should be conducted on site or before arriving at the location. n

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