Assessing health care worker perceptions of face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic created a significant disruption in the personal protective equipment (PPE) supply chain while simultaneously creating unprecedented demand for their use. Hospitals pursued different PPE strategies based on local factors, PPE availability, and interpretation of the evolving data on the epidemiology of the disease. After instituting universal face coverings, we sought to assess the comfort and tolerability, along with the advantages and disadvantages for face masks and face shields through a survey of employees at an academic medical center.