January 11, 2022
For the Record – January 11, 2022
- High Quality Masks for Research Participants
- UW Medicine COVID-19 Visitor Policy Changes
- In Case you Missed it
High Quality Masks for Research Participants
HSD strongly encourages researchers to have a supply of high-quality masks* to provide to study subjects, as needed during in-person interactions. Recent evidence strongly shows that high-quality and well-fitting masks are important for protection against the Omicron variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus, compared with cloth masks. HSD suggests that researchers offer a high-quality mask to subjects who are wearing a lesser quality mask. UW Environmental Health & Safety offers specific advice on face masks.
*N95, KN95, and KF94 masks are preferred but medical/surgical masks may be acceptable especially if worn under a cloth mask.
UW Medicine COVID-19 Visitor Policy Changes
UW Medicine recently announced new visitor restrictions to its hospital campuses effective January 3, 2022. This includes Harborview Medical Center and the UW Medical Center Montlake and Northwest locations. Visitors must either show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 or provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test collected within the three days before the visit. Researchers should take this into consideration if conducting study visits at these locations. The full policy may be found here on the UW Medicine website.
In Case you Missed it
The last issue of our eNewsletter was published during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. In case you missed it, we are providing here the publication link as well as the table of contents and links to specific news items.