Lessons from SARS
During the 2003 SARS outbreak, airway management protocols were
developed by infection control experts who often lacked expertise in the
management of airway problems, experts in airway management who lacked
expertise in infection control, and caregivers with no experience in
treating SARS patients.(49) 51% of the SARS cases were HCWs in Toronto
despite these safety protocol.(50) This was also the finding in
Singapore.(51) In other places, HCW accounted for 21% of the cases.(52)
Oh M et al found institution of PPE prevented infections amongst
HCW.(51) Perhaps this experience underlies the aggressive implementation
of N95 respirators in some institutes regardless of the risk of exposure
for all HCW, due to the high risk of mortality with COVID-19.(11, 12,
16, 23)