Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria

• HCWs caring for patients with acute viral respiratory infections^a

• Provision of care to patients undergoing aerosol-generating procedures (See Additional file 2 for full list of included AGMPs)

• A comparator that was exposure to non-aerosol generating medical procedures

• Transmission of confirmed VRIs from patients to HCWs

• Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and non-randomized comparative studies

• Population of interest was not HCW

• Respiratory infections due to bacterial pathogens

• Measure of transmission was not from patient to HCW

• HCW did not have confirmed VRI based on established case definitions (e.g., WHO criteria for SARS-COV-1) or laboratory confirmation

• Comparator was not exposure to non-AGMPs

• Editorials, commentaries, reviews, conference abstracts