Menu Close

Articles on PPE

Displaying 1 - 20 of 63 articles

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones in conversation at Queen’s Park, the day after Ontario’s chief medical officer of health ‘strongly recommended’ mask wearing. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

With COVID, flu and RSV circulating, it’s time to follow the evidence: Return to mask mandates

In 2020, with adult ICUs at risk of being overwhelmed, we wore masks and accepted restrictions. Now pediatric intensive care is at risk. Will leaders follow the evidence and tell us to mask up?
Maker spaces give engineers and designers the tools to build low-cost medical equipment using locally available materials. Brandon Martin, Rice University

‘Frugal design’ brings medical innovations to communities that lack resources during the pandemic

Engineering students in Malawi and Tanzania have used the materials and tools available to them to build ventilators, personal protective equipment and UV disinfection systems.
Most healers understand that blood exposure can result in infectious disease transmission. Gulshan Khan/AFP via Getty Images

Traditional healers in South Africa are exposed to infection, but few can get protective gear

An average healer in the rural South African town where the study was done experiences about 1,500 occupational blood exposures in their lifetime.
Layering face masks has been suggested as a way to increase protection against COVID-19 variants that may be more transmissible. (Shutterstock)

Are two cloth masks better than one for preventing the spread of COVID-19?

Are two face masks better than one? Adding layers of filtration by double masking is a way of using the masks that we already have, possibly to better effect.
New recommendation advise using an additional layer of polypropylene fabric in cloth masks to act as a filter. (Sara Alas/Niko Apparel)

Polypropylene, the material now recommended for COVID-19 mask filters: What it is, where to get it

Everything you need to know about non-woven polypropylene, the fabric now recommended for use as a filter in cloth face masks: What it is, what to look for and where to find it.
Private insurers saw telehealth claims increase over 4,000% from 2019 to 2020. Solskin/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Health insurers are starting to roll back coverage for telehealth – even though demand is way up due to COVID-19

Widely adopted in the US when pandemic precautions kept people home, telehealth faces a challenge as insurance coverage changes, right when its popularity had surged.
Although cloth masks have been widely adopted, many people still have questions about them. (Usplash/Vera Davidova)

COVID-19 masks FAQs: How can cloth stop a tiny virus? What’s the best fabric? Do they protect the wearer?

Epidemiologists reviewed 25 studies of cloth face masks. Here’s what they found out about how well they work, why they work, who they protect and why the mosquito and chain-link fence analogy is wrong.
A health-care worker is seen wearing full personal protective equipment outside the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, B.C. on April 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Heath-care workers lacking PPE suffer from more anxiety and depression

Health-care workers’ access to personal protective equipment, along with appropriate infection control procedures, affected their mental health during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Top contributors

More