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139 people had their hair done by stylists who were symptomatic with COVID-19...this is the story of what happened:
It was a regular day at her job as a hairstylist when H.A. noticed she was feeling a bit off. 1/
It was a regular day at her job as a hairstylist when H.A. noticed she was feeling a bit off. 1/
It was just a mild cough. She went on with her day. Between clients H.A. took off the cloth mask she’d been consistently wearing & shared a funny story with her colleague, H.B. 2/
After the break they both masked up & got back to work. About 3 days later H.B. noticed she was also feeling off & had a mild cough. Because they both still felt okay-ish and bills needed to be paid, both women chose to continue seeing clients in the salon. 3/
By the fifth day H.A. decided to see a doctor & COVID testing was performed. Convinced this was only a mild flu, H.A. continued to work while awaiting results. 4/
On the 8th day after that first symptom, H.A.’s test finally returned - positive for COVID. Given their close working quarters & similar symptoms, H.B. requested testing that same day and 2 days later her test also came back positive for COVID-19. 5/
Over the course of those 10 symptomatic days at the salon the women served a combined 139 clients. In accordance with company policy, both women consistently wore masks during client interactions. 6/
H.A. wore a double-layer cotton mask and H.B. alternated between cotton & surgical masks. 7/
As part of a well developed contact-tracing plan, public health officials contacted exposed clients & 67 opted for testing. There were *no* positive results. 8/
After 2 weeks of checking in by phone with a majority of the exposed clients, still *none* reported being diagnosed with COVID-19. 9/
H.A. reported that all 4 members of her household became symptomatic and ended up testing positive. H.B. reported 2 of her close friends who were exposed to her chose to be tested & had positive results, but they did not develop symptoms. 10/
Although this story (=published case report) I’m telling you is simply observational data and has obvious limitations, the take home message is quite clear. 11/
Based on historical data from other pandemics, our current understanding of COVID-19 transmission, and observational data like this, we can reasonably conclude there is potentially wide spread benefit to consistent mask use when unable to socially distance. 12/
Case Report: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32673300/ 13/
