The Covid-19 pandemic has seen three fundamental infection prevention and control (IPC) failures: an erroneous assumption of the mode of transmission; a failure to recommend respiratory protection equipment (RPE) for healthcare workers (HCWs) caring for people with Covid-19; and the mistaken assertion of equivalent efficacy between RPE and fluid resistant surgical face masks (FRSMs).

These failures have all happened in an era of evidence-based healthcare, and national and organisational guidance on this is still incorrect and unsafe.

Here I address these failures and provide evidence that: Covid-19 is airborne; HCWs caring for people with Covid-19 need RPE; and RPE provides greater protection than FRSMs. I do not discuss the consequences of these failures on the people who have been affected, rather my focus is on the need to change guidance. This is against the continuing backdrop of high Covid-19 infections and the risk of new variants as we move into autumn, and the high probability of future pandemics involving respiratory transmission of new and emerging pathogens

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