October 8, 2020

Extended Use or Re-Use of Single-Use Surgical Masks and Filtering Facepiece Respirators during COVID-19: A Rapid Systematic Review

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

Keywords (Tags): health care setting

• A rapid systematic review found limited evidence of protective efficacy when surgical masks and N95 respirators are either reused or had extended use in frontline healthcare settings. Despite limited evidence, the review highlighted vaporized hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet irradiation as the most promising reprocessing methods. The level of detail and consistency varied across the 6 guidance documents identified from WHO, European CDC, the U.S. CDC, and Public Health England websites.

Toomey et al. (Oct 8, 2020). Extended Use or Re-Use of Single-Use Surgical Masks and Filtering Facepiece Respirators during COVID-19: A Rapid Systematic Review. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2020.1243