the great mask debate

I work in a hospital and walk the entire hospital every night, including the Covid units.

A week ago the hospital mandated N95 masks and face shields be worn by every patient facing caregiver (doctors, nurses, respiratory care, phlebotomists, etc). Each caregiver was issued three N95 masks. They are to rotate through them daily. They wear one for a shift, then the next mask on the next shift, and so on...for a month! I wear a surgical mask 10 hours a day for 4-5 days unless it gets dirty or wet.

They just don't have enough for 4000 employees to change them often.

Since I wear them 10 hours a day at work, I don't wear them when I'm off work. That, and its a virus, if you're going to get it, you're going to get it. I refuse to live my life scared of going anywhere.

Funny story that shows just how silly people can be about this virus. There's a department that has to perform procedures on Covid positive patients. In their small waiting room they have two metal framed love seats. When they get a Covid patient, they drag both love seats across the floor, into the bathroom and close the door, then wheel the Covid patient, in the bed, into the waiting room. Their thought is the love seats won't get exposed if they are in the bathroom! These are educated medical professionals!!

I wonder if the virus knows not to go under the 3/4" gap in the bottom of the door!!!

The CDC guidelines state, for a non negative pressure room, to wait 3 hours and the furniture and floor can be wiped down with disinfectant. The housekeeper doesn't require any special PPE, just the normal gloves and a surgical mask.

For a negative pressure room (of which we have many now, including many in the ER), the wait time is 1 hour.

If a TRU-d ultraviolet light system is available to treat the room, we put that in immediately after a Covid patient leaves to kill all pathogens, then clean the room as normal.