Hospital Mask Mandate Did Little to Stop Omicron From Infecting Patients: UK Study

Medics take a patient from an ambulance into the Royal London hospital in London on January 19, 2021. - An estimated 12 percent of people in England had been infected with coronavirus by December last year, up from nine percent in November, according to official antibody data released Tuesday. Britain is currently gripped by its third and deadliest wave of the virus, blamed on a new strain believed to be highly infectious. Health chiefs have warned intensive care units risk being overwhelmed by the surge in cases that has already led to the country suffering record numbers of daily deaths. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images

Wearing a mask in health care settings had little, if any effect on the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 among patients, according to British researchers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mask mandates for hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes became a staple of many countries’ attempts at curbing the spread of the virus. In the UK, all staff and visitors at health care facilities were required to wear splash-resistant surgical face masks until June 2022, after which individual hospitals could decide their own mask policies.