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 A Purdue University nursing professor says looking
to the past – as well as additional knowledge of medicine and
technology – can help people through the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Joy Pieper, a clinical assistant professor of nursing in Purdue’s
College of Health and Human Sciences, teaches two courses on health
care history and wartime influences on health care. As the COVID-19
pandemic was spreading in the spring, Pieper and Rebecca Johnson
taught about the influenza outbreak of 1918 and the protective
measures communities took – including wearing masks – to reduce the
spread of disease.
The current surging spread of COVID-19 has put a high level of
attention on masks. Pieper, who has expertise as a surgical nurse
and has worked on infection control and patient safety initiatives,
provides four tips on proper mask usage:
Pick out a mask that is easy to wear. Pieper says studies are
suggesting the higher the thread count in masks, the better, and
another layer helps too. “Think of the Swiss cheese principle: You
are trying to block anything from getting through consecutive holes.
The more layers, the better,” she says.
For the general public, Pieper does not recommend wearing a mask
with valves. “Masks with certain valves that can filter are really
designed for use by workers in cleaning and construction fields to
filter out dust and other materials. They don’t prevent the spread
of infection because the valve only filters air coming into the mask
and not what is exhaled.”
Proper mask placement and removal. When removing a mask, be
sure to fold it in half so the outer part of the mask stays
contained when stored in a pocket or plastic bag.
“You should always clean your hands after you remove the mask,” she
says. “If you think about it, you are touching something you have
put in place to literally intercept germs, so it contains
potentially infectious material that you now have on your hands and
could spread through touch.”
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Cover both the mouth and nose. “Wearing your
mask to cover only your mouth is not helping anyone, including you,”
Pieper says. “Both your nose and mouth need to be covered because
you breathe out of both. The mask is meant to cover all air
exchanges, not just a cough.”
Keep your mask dry and clean it after every use. Pieper says
wet fabric can transfer germs more easily than dry, so it’s
advisable to carry replacement masks.
“The mask or masks you wear during a day should be laundered before
use again, so it is a good idea to own a couple different ones so
you do not have to do laundry every day,” Pieper says. “They can be
cleaned by machine or by hand according to the type of fabric.”
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a top public research institution developing
practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 6
Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World
Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and
out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online,
real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to
all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen
tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than
ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the
persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/.
[Writer, Matthew Oates
Source: Joy Pieper]
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