Universal Masking in Hospitals in the COVID-19 era: Is it Time to consider Shielding?

With concerns for presymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 and increasing burden of contact tracing and employee furloughs, several hospitals have supplemented pre-existing infection prevention measures with universal masking of all personnel in hospitals. Other hospitals are currently faced with the dilemma of whether or not to proceed with universal masking in a time of critical mask shortages. This viewpoint summarizes the rationale behind a universal masking policy in healthcare settings, important considerations before implementing such a policy, the challenges with masking and discusses proposed solutions such as universal face shields.