Reportedly, healthcare workers in Minnesota are reusing N95 face masks amid a continuing shortage of these protective respirators.
Hospitals are taking steps to extend the use of a single mask, including using ultraviolet light to kill the virus or treat them with vaporized hydrogen peroxide, according to the Star Tribune. N95 masks provide “highly efficient airborne particle filtration,” filtering about 95 percent of airborne particles when used correctly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. However, preliminary evidence shows that the new coronavirus can live on surfaces for up to 72 hours.
N95 respirators faced a shortage across the country at the start of the pandemic, and officials at the time emphasized that they should be reserved for front-line medical workers. Even now, the CDC still says that these masks are “critical supplies” that “should continue to be reserved for health workers and other medical first aid services.”
HOW THIS N95 MASK COULD PUT OTHERS AT RISK OF DISEASE
Although the maker of N95, 3M, said last week that it has doubled its production of these respirators this year, global demand for them continues to outstrip supply, leaving some medical workers, such as those in Minnesota, to reuse the masks, Star reported. Tribune. .
“Why would you think it is okay to wear a potentially contaminated mask, from one room to another?” Barb Galle, a floating nurse at the Minneapolis VA Healthcare System and president of Professional Placement 3669 of the American Federation of Government Employees, said. (iStock)
According to the CDC, used masks can also be placed in separate paper bags where they can be ventilated until any virus dies.
Fox News contacted 3M with a request for comment for this story.
But reusing masks is “unpleasant,” a nurse told the Star Tribune.
“Why would you think it’s okay to wear a potentially contaminated mask from one room to another?” Barb Galle, a floating nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and president of Professional Federation 3669 of the American Federation of Government Employees, said.
“In the heart and mind of a nurse, that is so unpleasant.”
A Minneapolis VA spokesperson told Star Tribue that the hospital is “providing all employees with the required personal protective equipment” and noted that the rate of COVID-19 infection among its employees has remained relatively low, at 0.74 per hundred.
Meanwhile, David Martinson, a spokesman for the Bloomington-based health system and insurer HealthPartners, told the newspaper that employees reuse N95 respirators, albeit safely, in an effort to “conserve supply now and ensure we have enough in the event of a COVID Surge.
“While it is difficult to predict how a second wave could affect EPP levels, the decontamination methods we use have helped us keep N95s and keep our patients and colleagues safe, and we are confident in our supply quantity,” he added.
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Healthcare workers, including hospital staff, account for about 10 percent of Minnesota’s 35,549 confirmed cases, the newspaper reported. That number of positive cases increased by 523 cases on Sunday, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
