Irish Examiner view: We must mask up to face down the worst risks of pandemic

Government should accede to demands by INMO and other health worker unions for higher-grade Covid masks

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is more transmissible, and it's time to roll out heavy-duty FFP2 masks — which the WHO says offers 94% protection — to healthcare workers. Stock picture

Given that we are approaching the end of the second full year of Covid-19 and that even the sunniest of forecasts show it stretching into the future, there seems little reason to delay the widespread introduction of higher-level protective masks as a standard for medical and support staff in the face of the new, more transmissible, Omicron variant.

This is what the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and other health unions are seeking and, if we are being led by the science as everyone says, then their requests should be granted.