Covid-19: face masks could foster distrust and blame

“We should advise the public to wear face masks”—Greenhalgh and colleagues detail the absence of an evidence base to support this advice and, along with Javid and colleagues, argue that population benefits are plausible and harms unlikely.12 My experience of communication difficulties while working in a hospital during the coronavirus epidemic leads me to the opposite conclusion—potential harms are likely.

As an anaesthetist, my recent workload has been largely …