(HealthDay)—In guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America, recommendations are presented for personal protective equipment (PPE) use by health care providers (HCP) in caring for suspected or known COVID-19 patients.
John B. Lynch, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues developed evidence-based rapid guidelines intended to support HCP in their decisions about infection prevention when caring for suspected or known COVID-19 patients.
The guideline panel agreed on eight recommendations. HCP caring for patients with suspected or known COVID-19 should use a surgical mask or N95 (or N99) respirator or powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) as part of appropriate PPE in conventional settings. In contingency or crisis capacity settings, use of a surgical mask or a reprocessed respirator is preferred to no mask. No recommendation is made for use of double versus single gloves for health care PPE in conventional, contingency, or crisis capacity settings; in addition, no recommendation is made for use of shoe covers versus no shoe covers. HCP involved in aerosol-generating procedures should use an N95 (or N99) respirator or PAPR instead of a surgical mask as part of appropriate PPE in conventional settings; in contingency or crisis capacity settings, a reprocessed N95 respirator should be used for reuse instead of surgical masks. HCP involved with aerosol-generating procedures should add a face shield or surgical mask as cover for the N95 respirator to allow for extended use or reuse as part of appropriate PPE during contingency or crisis settings.
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