As people are increasingly using protective gears, including gloves, masks and gowns, to protect themselves from the coronavirus, health experts have cautioned that safety equipment can become the means of transmission of the deadly virus for lack of their proper management, use and disposal.
They said many doctors and nurses are getting infected with coronavirus for not properly using and discarding the safety gears. Although the general people do not need to wear the PPEs, they are still buying substandard and used protective equipment from roadside vendors, exposing themselves to infection.
On April 25, a mobile court conducted a drive in the city’s Bhatara area and seized huge used white gowns and masks that were collected from different hospitals and prepared for sale by washing and ironing those.
Health experts said general people only need to wear masks and should refrain from buying protective gears from street vendors. They said washing hands with soap frequently or using hand sanitiser and staying indoors as much as possible are the best measures to remain safe from the virus instead of going out of homes using protective gears.
A group of researchers at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill said the virus may survive on objects of PPE for hours, posing a continued risk of transfer to the user during handling over multiple uses.
The potential long-term survival of viruses on contaminated PPE is an important factor when formulating recommendations for removal and handling of used PPEs and reuse of PPEs in the pandemic setting. It also highlights the continued importance of reinforcing good hand hygiene after PPE removal for preventing the spread of infection, they said.
Dr Samia Tahmina, additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, said, “Many people are using masks and gloves and thinking that they are safe. If these protective gears are not properly used and safely disposed of those can cause to the virus contraction.
She said anyone wearing gloves can touch surfaces or objects that might have become contaminated by the corona droplets and thus the virus can travel to his/her home. “If this contaminated glove is not removed and disposed of properly it can cause the transmission of the virus.”
Talking to UNB, Professor Dr Mohammed Atiqur Rahman, treasurer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), said there are some guidelines provide bye WHO about the use and disposal of the protective gears, including gloves, medical masks, goggles or a face shield, and gowns.
According to WHO, masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with sanitiser or soap and water. “Before putting on a mask, people should clean hands with soap and water. Musk must be replaced with a new one as soon as it is damp while the single-use masks should not be reused.”
Dr Atiqur said if its possible people should use single-use masks and gloves and discard it in a closed bin and then wash hands with soap.
Similarly, the doctors and nurses who attend corona patients, should use PPEs/gown and perform hand hygiene before putting on and after taking off it.
The discarded PPEs should be thrown in an appropriate waste container after use.
“These are the main guidelines of WHO about using and disposing of the safety gears. If these guidelines are not followed, people may invite danger,” he added.
Prof Dr. Harun-or-Rashid, head of medicine department at Dhaka Community Medical College & Hospital (DCMCH), said PPEs, masks and hand gloves can be means of travelling and spreading coronavirus if those are not properly managed, used and disposed of.
In many countries, one-time masks and PPEs are used for safety reason. “As now there’s a crisis, we can reuse the safety gears after making those safe. After attending a corona patient, doctors or nurses should dispose of their masks and PPEs and gloves in a safe way. If anyone wants to reuse the PPEs, he or she should wash it properly with soap and dry it up in sunlight properly.”
Dr Harun said many doctors and nurses are not aware of proper use of coronavirus safety gears. “As a doctor phoned me from Sunamganj, I asked him how he was handling the patients under the current situation. He said a medicine company gave him a PPE he reuses it after keeping it in sunlight for some time. It’s not the safe way of reusing the PPE.”
He said the government should make the health professionals aware of the safe use of safety gears as they are the frontline corona warriors.
Dr Harun thinks common people need not to use surgical or N95 masks and PPE.
He said general people should use masks made of clothes and they should wash it with soap and hot water before reusing.
General people should also not use gloves but they should use hand sanitiser and wash hands after touching any surface or substance.
“We also must be aware of disposing the masks and PPEs and gloves. The used masks, gloves and PPEs should not be kept here and there where children and other people may go and touch. Before disposing of the safety gears, we should wrap those in a polythene bag and discard into a trash bin having a cover,” the health expert added.
