Staff at Fort Worth JPS Hospital ordered to wear, reuse face masks as new coronavirus spreads
JPS Health Network hospitals on Friday ordered all staff to wear routine-use masks and reuse them every week.
“We just want to give all the rest of the employees access to a mask for their work in the hospital. It’s the right thing to do,” said Jessamy Brown, spokeswoman for the network, in a written statement.
“Clinical staff, those who care for patients, wouldn’t use routine-use masks during patient care. This is for walking around the hospital.”
JPS staff are being directed to specific locations to pick up their face masks, where experts are providing informational fliers and fielding questions, Brown said.
The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology warns that improper reuse of a dirty or old masks by untrained personnel has the potential to make people sick.
Respirators and some surgical masks have an elastic band that can snap if you are not careful when you remove them and disperse particles into the air, according to a flier from the association explaining why those who are not showing symptoms should not wear masks.
“Healthcare workers are trained in how to properly put on and take off this equipment without contaminating themselves,” states the flier. “Don’t underestimate this. Past experience with highly infectious diseases tells us that lack of knowledge in this area can make people sick.”
Shortages of face masks have been reported for weeks, prompting a wave of sewing enthusiasts into action. Joann Fabric and Craft Store said volunteers across the country have made more than 10 million masks. Its website offers “how to videos” and instructions for making surgical masks.
But the National Nurses Union says these masks will not protect nurses if they are exposed to a patient with the COVID-19 virus.
“It is the responsibility of health care employers to provide proper personal protective equipment to all their staff — at a minimum N95 respirators and full gowns, goggles, gloves, and other protective clothing,” reads a statement from the union. “It is up to our elected officials to make sure there is a dramatically expanded supply of the equipment we need to protect nurses, other health care workers, and patients.”
All JPS health care workers are banned from using homemade or fabric face masks.
This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Staff at Fort Worth JPS Hospital ordered to wear, reuse face masks as new coronavirus spreads."
