In an effort to preserve N95 respirator masks, UConn Health is ordering staff to place any mask they use in a paper bag with their name and the patient’s name on it and and if possible to reuse the mask if that patient doesn’t have COVID-19.
The recycling of masks comes as Gov. Ned Lamont and others have asked for donations of personal protective equipment, known as PPE. The Connecticut National Guard has been distributing the equipment throughout the state.
Dr. David Banach, hospital epidemiologist for UConn Health, said all hospitals are having to adjust to the uncertainty of dealing with a pandemic.
“We’re trying to think ahead and be proactive because we still don’t know how long this will last,” Banach said.
On Friday, Gov. Ned Lamont said a nationwide shortage of masks and other PPE was hitting Connecticut hard.
“If there is any company out there that has access to PPE masks, etc., let us know who you are. We’ll buy it if we can. … We’ll pay top price,” Lamont said Friday. “If you are a company that has the ability to manufacturer this equipment, we’ll place orders, and I have governors from other states who will place orders.”
In weekly conference calls with DPH officials, they have said that masks and other equipment are in short supply. Typically, Banach said hospital personnel normally only need protective equipment when dealing with patients with tuberculosis or chicken pox.
“This is the first time we have had to consider respiratory shortages,” Banach said. “The unpredictability of the virus makes it more challenging because we don’t know the overall number of patients we will get and when we will get them and if we will get a surge.”
In a memo, UConn Health supervisors recommend paper bags “must have only the masks used by the same health care worker and on the same patient.”
“At the end of the shift, paper bags shall be placed in one patient belonging bag. Once the patient is transferred or discharged, the bag with the masks must be kept in the designated plastic container in your department until the final results are known.”
“If the patient’s test comes back positive for Influenza or COVID-19, the bag with the masks must be discarded in trash,” the memo said. “If the patient’s tests come back negative for Influenza or COVID-19, the masks in the bag can be reused on any subsequent patient requiring AIRBORNE precautions. The mask must only be reused by the staff member who wore the mask originally.”
Hospitals across the country are anticipating a shortage of critical personal protection equipment such as the N95 masks, surgical masks and gowns as the virus spreads.
The lack of PPEs has become a global problem as the virus spreads. On Friday World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “The collapse of the personal protective equipment market poses extreme difficulties for protecting healthcare workers.”
Ghebreyesus said WHO is reaching out to manufacturers in China who have agreed to supply WHO, and that the agency is finalizing arrangements and coordinating shipments to “refill the WHO’s warehouse and ship PPE to whomever needs it.”
As of Saturday evening, there were 40 people in Connecticut hospitals with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, but officials are anticipating far more will need hospitalization. In his daily briefing Friday, Lamont said it’s going to be a struggle keeping up with the supply of PPEs to “make sure we have a health care system that’s ready to respond” as more people get sick.
“We have been working in very close collaboration with our friends in the hospitals, and we have all emphasized, and I’ve emphasized this to Vice President Pence’s task force in Washington, when it comes to protective equipment, there is a nationwide shortage,” Lamont said. “We did get a small allocation from the feds, and we are getting that distributed now to our hospitals and nursing homes, but we have a long way to go there,” he said.
On Friday, the Connecticut National Guard distributed about 40,000 personal protective masks to ambulance companies and other first responders in all five emergency regions around the state. The equipment was from a stockpile kept by the state Department of Public Health.
DPH officials also are expecting at least another 250,000 N95 masks and other personal protective equipment to arrive soon from the federal Strategic National Stockpiles.
