Handling of face masks by health-care workers during the coronavirus pandemic scare: An eye-opener

Abstract

Background: The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported on January 30, 2020, in India, and it was declared to be a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization. The use of face masks by the general population and the health-care workers (HCWs) is the most important preventive strategy. Materials and Methods: The study aimed to know the knowledge, attitude, and practices of usage and disposal of face masks among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected using a peer-reviewed, prevalidated questionnaire. The quantitative variables were described in mean and standard deviation and qualitative variables by number and percentages. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Nearly 71.43% of the participants were wearing a triple-layered surgical face mask. Almost 48.74% of HCWs were provided with the mask from the place of work. Surprisingly, 56.30% of the HCWs were not changing the mask daily and not following the proper disposal system; moreover, 35.8% of doctors and 64.2% of paramedics were taking the masks back to their homes in their pockets. Conclusions: Personal protection equipment started getting scarcely available and was a control item during the hour of this pandemic. This unawareness requires immediate attention, as it poses a high risk for transmission of COVID-19 among Health care service providers.

Keywords

• awareness
• coronavirus
• covid-19
• eye-opener
• face mask
• health-care workers
• pandemic