As a self-employed social care consultant and former care home inspector I visit over 100 care homes each year to conduct mock Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections. During the COVID-19 epoch, when face masks went on in care homes, I witnessed a dramatically negative shift in atmosphere, spirit and human connection. Something profound was lost and, as I told the makers of the documentary Masking Humanity, despite what the guidance may have suggested, it wasn’t safety we gained in return.

In March 2020 there was fear and uncertainty everywhere in social care. The arrival of COVID-19 in care homes was coincident with excess death rates. I recall one 56-bed home in Northwest England that saw 50% of its residents die within in one month. A few weeks later the senior team looked like they were experiencing PTSD symptoms. At this time the use of masks was not mandated, the prevailing view amongst politicians and their advisors being they were ineffective. Nevertheless, when panic strikes any straw will be grasped and it seemed to many masks ‘just might’ be effective and were ‘worth a try’. As a result, and understandable within a context of widespread anxiety, care homes strove to procure masks and other PPE as best they could.

From June 2020, probably partly to create an appearance of action, the guidance issued by infection control teams made a U-turn. Masks became ‘mandated’ and care home staff wore them diligently. The summer months went by with few or no COVID-19 cases, and care staff, perhaps wanting to connect their efforts with the good results, began to believe it was the masks and assorted PPE that were keeping COVID-19 away. We now know that, unsurprisingly, there were very few COVID-19 cases nationally at that time and this apparent success was a mere coincidence.

Read more: Face Masks Harmed Care Home Residents in Ways No Health and Safety Apparatchik Can Ever Understand