tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol
. 2021 Jan 11;1-22.
doi: 10.1017/ice.2020.1418. Online ahead of print.
Estimated Number of N95 Respirators Needed for Healthcare Workers in Acute Care Hospitals During the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic
Patrick T Wedlock[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Kelly J O'Shea[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Madellena Conte[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Sarah M Bartsch[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Samuel L Randall[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Marie C Ferguson[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sarah N Cox[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sheryl S Siegmund[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sarah Kulkarni[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Denis Nash[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Michael Y Lin[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Bruce Y Lee[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Objective: Due to shortages of N95 respirators during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to estimate the number of N95s required for healthcare workers (HCW) to inform manufacturing targets and resource allocation.
Methods: We developed a model to determine the number of N95 respirators needed for HCWs both in a single acute care hospital and the United States.
Results: For an acute care hospital with 400 all-cause monthly admissions, the number of N95 respirators needed to manage COVID-19 patients admitted during a month ranges from 113 (95% IPR: 50-229) if 0.5% of admissions are COVID-19 patients to 22,101 (95% IPR: 5,904-25,881) if 100% of admissions are COVID-19 patients (assuming single use per respirator, and 10 encounters between HCWs and each COVID-19 patient per day). The number of N95s needed decreases (22 [95% IPR: 10-43]-4,445 [95% IPR: 1,975-8,684]) if each N95 is used for five patient encounters. Varying monthly all-cause admissions to 2,000 requires 6,645-13,404 respirators with a 60% COVID-19 admission prevalence, 10 HCW-patient encounters, and reusing N95s 5-10 times. Nationally, the number of N95 respirators needed over the course of the pandemic ranges from 86 million (95% IPR: 37.1-200.6 million) to 1.6 billion (95% IPR: 0.7-3.6 billion) as 5-90% of the population is exposed (single-use), and 17.4 million (95% IPR: 7.3-41 million) to 312.3 million (95% IPR: 131.5-737.3 million) using each respirator for five encounters.
Conclusions: Our study quantifies the number of N95 respirators needed for a given acute care hospital and nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic under varying conditions.
Keywords: COVID-19; Healthcare Workers; Personal Protective Equipment; Respirators.
. 2021 Jan 11;1-22.
doi: 10.1017/ice.2020.1418. Online ahead of print.
Estimated Number of N95 Respirators Needed for Healthcare Workers in Acute Care Hospitals During the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic
Patrick T Wedlock[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Kelly J O'Shea[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Madellena Conte[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Sarah M Bartsch[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Samuel L Randall[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Marie C Ferguson[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sarah N Cox[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sheryl S Siegmund[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sarah Kulkarni[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Denis Nash[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Michael Y Lin[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Bruce Y Lee[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33427134
- DOI: 10.1017/ice.2020.1418
Abstract
Objective: Due to shortages of N95 respirators during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to estimate the number of N95s required for healthcare workers (HCW) to inform manufacturing targets and resource allocation.
Methods: We developed a model to determine the number of N95 respirators needed for HCWs both in a single acute care hospital and the United States.
Results: For an acute care hospital with 400 all-cause monthly admissions, the number of N95 respirators needed to manage COVID-19 patients admitted during a month ranges from 113 (95% IPR: 50-229) if 0.5% of admissions are COVID-19 patients to 22,101 (95% IPR: 5,904-25,881) if 100% of admissions are COVID-19 patients (assuming single use per respirator, and 10 encounters between HCWs and each COVID-19 patient per day). The number of N95s needed decreases (22 [95% IPR: 10-43]-4,445 [95% IPR: 1,975-8,684]) if each N95 is used for five patient encounters. Varying monthly all-cause admissions to 2,000 requires 6,645-13,404 respirators with a 60% COVID-19 admission prevalence, 10 HCW-patient encounters, and reusing N95s 5-10 times. Nationally, the number of N95 respirators needed over the course of the pandemic ranges from 86 million (95% IPR: 37.1-200.6 million) to 1.6 billion (95% IPR: 0.7-3.6 billion) as 5-90% of the population is exposed (single-use), and 17.4 million (95% IPR: 7.3-41 million) to 312.3 million (95% IPR: 131.5-737.3 million) using each respirator for five encounters.
Conclusions: Our study quantifies the number of N95 respirators needed for a given acute care hospital and nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic under varying conditions.
Keywords: COVID-19; Healthcare Workers; Personal Protective Equipment; Respirators.