Dear Member / clinic owner,
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CDC policy on mask use
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There has been a significant shift in American CDC policy to increased wearing of masks by medical frontline staff and the public, in line with Chinese and east Asian practice.
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Our MoH is following the CDC position closely.
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Many of our facilities’ staff now wear masks for each consultation.
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Reuse of PPE
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The CDC has released a statement on reusing masks in case supplies run low, which may be useful for facilities that wish to prepare for a mask shortage.
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The United States is at a different stage of the pandemic, and emphasises that reuse is not the ‘standard of care’.
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- “ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, vaporous hydrogen peroxide, and moist heat showed the most promise as potential methods to decontaminate FFRs (filtering facepiece respirators).”
- Strategies for FFR extended use and reuse (without decontamination of the respirator) are currently available from CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
- It references a paper on SARS-COV-2 survival in the environment on different materials, where the figure for near-extinction on cardboard is given as two days.
- It suggests healthcare workers store their masks in a breathable paper bag at the end of each shift and re-use after five days.
Ministry of Health guidelines, and the safety of frontline workers, should take priority.
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David Gollogly, Jasmine Mackay, Richard Chen
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Pandemic Response Committee
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