Surgical face masks are at the center of this COVID-19 pandemic. Here, medical frontliners are scrambling to get ahold of them amid shortage to protect themselves as they perform their duties.
[READ: Face masks needed: call for protective equipment donations from hospitals and organizations]
If PGH and other frontline medical personnel are looking for PPEs, they are in Customs warehouse, tons of them. Go get them there. PGH is an arm of government and entitled to take them.
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) March 15, 2020
The latest in mask news: Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. saying this particular kind of personal protective equipment (PPE) that frontliners need is stockpiled at the Bureau of Customs. “Go get them there. PGH is an arm of government and entitled to take them,” he said.
In a report by the New York Times, China is found to have manufactured half the world’s surgical mask supply. That was before the coronavirus hit them. Today, what they manufacture they keep to themselves—who can blame them? They are, after all, the hardest hit.
Leave it to frontliners
The demand for face masks around the world continue to rise, pressuring China to export. This is despite the experts’ warning that masks alone cannot protect us against COVID-19. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) only recommends people who already have symptoms to wear them to stop further transmission, and to medical frontliners to better equip themselves.
More destructive than protective
Another dark side of hoarding and improper disposal of these surgical masks have also surfaced in Hong Kong, where an environmental group found tons of these disposable protective gear discarded in beaches and trails.
A member of the environmental group Oceans Asia picked up at least a hundred of this used paraphernalia within two weeks, according to a report by Reuters.
Made of non-biodegradable plastic polypropylene, it takes a lot of time for these masks to breakdown, said Tracey Read, founder of the group Plastic Free Seas in Hong Kong in an interview.
“People think they’re protecting themselves but it’s not just about protecting yourselves, you need to protect everybody and by not throwing away the mask properly, it’s very selfish.”
Dispose of properly and do not reuse
Local environmental group EcoWaste Coalition is encouraging proper disposal of these masks, which can inevitably end up choking sea creatures when discarded improperly.
Zero Waste Campaigner of EcoWaste Coalition Jove Benosa in an interview with the Inquirer said marine creatures can mistake these for food, blocking their digestive tracts and affecting their growth, reproduction and survival.
Similarly, the eco-group is calling out to the public to stop reusing surgical mask because of the dangers it poses to our health. Citing a review of studies recently published in the Journal of Hospital Infection, Benosa said the masks can harbor coronaviruses up to nine days.
[READ: Your phone can carry coronavirus for 9 days. Here’s how to disinfect it]
How to properly dispose of masks
The World Health Organization suggests removing it from behind, making sure not to touch the front of the mask, and then discarding immediately in a closed bin. It is also necessary to wash your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water immediately after.
This is universally a safe method—for yourself. But since there is a small risk of passing a virus through the air, according to some experts, additional steps can be employed.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious diseases expert at Mount Elizabeth Novena Specialist Centre, said masks exposed in the open with strong winds, pose a small risk of aerosolization, where bodily fluids such as one’s spit or mucus is dispersed and transmitted through the air.
This is the correct way to dispose your used masks. Remember to wash your hands with soap afterwards too. #COVID2019 #Singapore #coronavirus #CoronavirusOutbreak pic.twitter.com/zJN0LkLz8n
— Evacomics (@evacomics) February 13, 2020
Leong further suggests folding used masks in half inwards to seal in mouth and nose droplets. Continuously fold in half until it looks like a roll and tie with the ear loops to secure it. Wrap it in tissue before disposal in the right bin.
Header photo courtesy of Edwin Bacasmas/Inquirer
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