TYLER, Texas — Millions of items have been delivered around Texas, but there still is not enough personal protective equipment for doctors, nurses and emergency workers on the front lines.
Gov. Greg Abbott touted the distribution amounts during news conferences staged in front of pallets full of gloves, masks, face shields and gowns earmarked for Texas hospitals.
Dr. Charles Lerner, an infectious disease specialist in San Antonio, says it still is not enough, especially when considering N95 masks.
“Well, they have no choice but to use things [as substitutes],” Dr. Lerner said. “One is to reuse a mask, which decreases its efficiency. The other is to use a less-effective-type mask; for example, a surgical mask. And sometimes, we don’t even have surgical masks, in which case you need to use a scarf! It’s not very effective, but it’s better than nothing.”
Dr. Lerner is part of the Texas Medical Association’s COVID-19 Task Force. He says there are two primary ways in which doctors and nurses can to prolong the life of their N95 masks, also known as respirators.
“The first is: If you have an N95 respirator, which is a kind of mask that filters out 95 percent of all particles, and you put a surgical mask over it, that keeps it from getting contaminated and keeps it from getting wet,” Dr. Lerner stated.
The second method is to rotate masks, taking advantage of the fact that the coronavirus can last no more than a couple days on certain surfaces.
“You put it in a paper bag,” Dr. Lerner explained. “And the next day, you use another fresh mask and put it in a paper bag. You keep doing that for a series of seven days, and then at the end of the week, you open up the first paper bag and you take out the mask. And by that time, the virus in gone.”
Some researchers from Stanford University posited that heating an N95 mask in a humid environment might sanitize it. Dr. Lerner, however, warned against the idea that simply baking a mask would make them reusable.
“It would destroy the fabric,” Dr. Lerner said. “It would damage the fabric of the mask and make it less efficient.”
Some school groups and community organizations are lending a hand by making masks, whether by using a 3D printer, refurbishing old masks, or sewing or knitting cloth covers and surgical masks.
. Lerner added that everyone can play a part in making sure hospitals have enough supplies by not wearing masks, themselves. He says, for the average person, an N95 mask is not going to prevent infection.
“One of the things you need to know about an N95 mask is: It’s absolutely useless unless you’re properly fit-tested so that you exclude all air,” Dr. Lerner explained. “And if you just put on an N95 respirator, or if you try and use it over somebody like me with a beard, it’s no better than a surgical mask.”
Dr. Lerner said he recently saw a woman wearing a mask while driving a car with nobody else in it and said that was an example of the useless precautions some people are taking that could make it harder for health care professional to care for themselves, which he called one of the most important factors in ending the pandemic.
“We just need to protect the healthcare workers,” Dr. Lehner stated. “It’s always counter-intuitive. You want to say: they first thing you want to do is protect the sick. Take care of the sick first. But the first thing you have to do is take care of the caregivers, because if you don’t take care of the caregivers, pretty soon there’s nobody to take care of the sick.”