cover story
A Headline Goes in
Why
Wearing
This Spot
Right in this
Masks
Space Alone
Won’t Protect the
General Public
from Respiratory
Infections Like
COVID-19
By Kelly M. Pyrek
By Jessica Alicdan, CIC
C
urrently in the global pandemic of COVID-19,
the ballgame of infection prevention and
control (IPC) shifted to a larger playground. This
now involves subject matter experts (SME) in
infectious disease and public health professionals
to calm the fears of the public and strategize
decent IP&C education that the average person
(who are not in healthcare) is not familiar. Con-
tinuous misinformation in popular media outlets,
xenophobia, and improper mask usage which
supplies are now a shortage create an additional
layer of public health threats and challenges
for SMEs. If we focus on teaching communities
evidence-based respiratory etiquette, like proper
hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection, high-
touch-wipe-down method, proper use of masks
and N95 respirators, the chain of respiratory
infections, such as Influenza and COVID-19
pandemics, will decrease in transmission and
prevent future outbreaks.
As an infection preventionist and public health
professional, your eyes must roll back from
seeing constant misinformation on popular media
outlets and improper usage of surgical masks and
respirators. Applying evidence-based practices to
wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) and
doffing correctly in healthcare settings, microbi-
ology and high biocontainment laboratories has
proven to be effective in preventing staff secondary
transmission. The standards for the general
public, who are also wearing masks to prevent
COVID-19, should be no different. Let’s lead the
general public with educational discussions on
basic IP&C evidence-based practices to address
respiratory infections overall.
Respiratory Etiquette
Respiratory etiquette minimizes the chance of
exposing others from the infected host’s germs.
36
Educational tips to consider:
l Start with the basics of how a person
becomes sick. Introducing infectious agents to
entry portal sites of eyes, nose and mouth is
a route to becoming sick. This can be due to
contaminated hands touching the face or being
in close contact within 3-6 feet of an infected
individual without PPE.
l Recommend physical separation from the
person with respiratory illness from others to
contain the spread. The best way to prevent the
spread of droplet transmission is to ask family
members, visitors and co-workers to stay home
if they are sick.
l Suggest that the infected individual wear a
surgical mask for proper source control to prevent
public exposures, if staying home is not an option.
The proper use of masks will be discussed later.
l Discuss the importance of covering your
cough and encourage the use of using the inner
arms instead of hands. This minimizes the chance
of hand contamination.
l Tissues are essential for the duration of
a respiratory illness, therefore it’s important to
discuss the use of tissues and correct disposal in
the trash. One of the challenges with Influenza
shedding is that it can last on hard surfaces for
24 hours, so if tissues are left on kitchen tables,
it’s likely others will contaminate their hands with
the virus and become sick if they touch their face
with unwashed hands.
l Strongly encourage hand hygiene, which
plays a vital role in breaking the chain of any
infection. There is a proper method to clean
hands following World Health Organization
(WHO) instruction, which is lathering hands with
soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds,
scrubbing every crevice of the hands and under the
Applying
evidence-based
practices to
wearing personal
protective
equipment
(PPE) and
doffing correctly
in healthcare
settings,
microbiology
and high
biocontainment
laboratories
has proven
to be effective
in preventing
staff secondary
transmission.
april 2020 • www.healthcarehygienemagazine.com