Respiratory protection for medical staff to prevent COVID-19 infection

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread throughout China, which causing a wide scale of infections among medical staff. For the purpose of improving the protection level of medical staff, this article discusses measures to improve the respiratory protection in medical personnel. By analyzing the transmission characteristics of SARS virus and novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the infection status of medical staff in the earliest stage of outbreak, to explore the possible causes of infection and the recommended protective measures in medical staff to be taken. This article comprehensively introduced the performance of various types of protective masks in China, as well as the manufacturing standards, protective performance, and application scope of medical and industrial protective masks in China and the Western world. It is proposed that the level of respiratory protection of medical staff should be improved, and medical staff in isolation wards should be equipped with protective masks of medical grade II or higher. In case of shortage, medical N95 masks and medical surgical masks could be used instead of. At present, medical N95 masks as the main respiratory protection measures for medical staff could not reach the requirements to avoid infection of medical personnel. The selection standard of protective masks in medical workplace should be elevated, at the meanwhile, certain types of protective masks should be applied appropriately to protect medical staff from accidentally infection.

Abstract

摘要 ：新型冠状病毒肺炎在全国流行，导致不少医护人员感染。为提高医护人员防护水平，该文探讨了提高医护 人员呼吸防护水平的措施。通过分析SARS病毒和新型冠状病毒传播特点，暴发初期医护人员感染状况，探讨其感染 医护人员的可能原因和应采取的正确防护措施。本文全面介绍了我国各类防护口罩的性能，以及我国和欧美国家医 用防护口罩、工业用防护口罩的制造标准、防护性能与适用范围，提出应提升医护人员的呼吸防护级别，隔离病房医护 人员应以医用二级以上防护口罩为基本配备，如短缺则可用医用N95 口罩加医用外科口罩配合使用。目前以医用N95 口罩为主的医护人员呼吸防护措施，不足以避免医护人员感染，应提高防护口罩选用级别，正确使用恰当的防护口罩， 以有效保护医护人员身体健康。