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)