Intended for healthcare professionals

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Analysis

Face masks for the public during the covid-19 crisis

BMJ 2020; 369 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1435 (Published 09 April 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;369:m1435

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Rapid Response:

Re: Face masks for the public during the covid-19 crisis. Response to Mr Sholapurkar

Dear Editor

A simple matter of Commonsense

1. Anyone who has ever worked in an operating theatre remembers that you are required to wear a face mask. Nobody ever did randomised controlled trials.

2. I want to protect others from MY corona virus if I harbour it. I have been in splendid isolation since about three weeks before the Prime Minister thought of it.
Yes, I go out for a walk, when most people are asleep. Today I saw, at a distance of several meters, two men, two dogs, one child, one lady on a bike.
We gave one another a wide berth.

3. When I have to go to the GP surgery for an injection for cancer of the prostate, I will wear a privately purchased (£9:99) mask, which I hope will save me from being infected by the staff at the surgery, others at the surgery; some of them might be innocent carriers.

4. I would welcome criticisms of my brand of commonsense. It transcends the wisdom of the WHO, the Prime Minister, NHS England.

Competing interests: Susceptible, I think, to Covid-19

19 May 2020
JK Anand
Retired doctor, public health
Free spirit
Peterborough, England