Beyond the PPE shortage: Improperly fitting personal protective equipment and COVID-19 transmission among health care professionals

Xue Ming; Carly Ray; Mahindra Bandari

doi:10.1080/21548331.2020.1802172

Beyond the PPE shortage: Improperly fitting personal protective equipment and COVID-19 transmission among health care professionals

Hosp Pract (1995). 2020 Dec;48(5):246-247. doi: 10.1080/21548331.2020.1802172. Epub 2020 Aug 11.

Authors

Xue Ming¹, Carly Ray², Mahindra Bandari³

Affiliations

¹ Neurology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School , Morganville, New Jersey, USA.
² Neurology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School , Newark, New Jersey, USA.
³ Neurology, Rutgers University , New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.

PMID: 32713215
DOI: 10.1080/21548331.2020.1802172

Abstract

Background: Personal protective equipment (PPE) use is required when caring for COVID-19 patients. Proper mask fitting is essential in prevention of infectious agent transmission at hospital setting.Methods and Results: We describe three cases of health care professionals (HCP) in a COVID-19 designated ward with positive SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR results, and were found to have improperly fitted masks.Conclusion: These cases of improperly fitting masks in HCP may have contributed to their eventual COVID-19 infection. These cases raise the important issue of PPE fitting. Abbreviations: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Health Care Professional (HCP), Real-time PCR (RT-PCR).

Keywords: Covid-19; N95; equipment; facemask; personal protection equipment (PPE); testing; transmission.

Publication types

Editorial

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19 / prevention & control*
Female
Humans
Infection Control / methods*
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / prevention & control*
Male
Medical Staff, Hospital / standards*
Middle Aged
Personal Protective Equipment / standards*
SARS-CoV-2