COVID-19 Update: Hydroxychloroquine & Recovery Time / Home Face Masks at Work / Reusing Respirators

By Amy Orciari Herman

Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, DFASAM

Here are some of the latest developments in novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19):

• A randomized trial among 62 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in China suggests that hydroxychloroquine may help shorten the time to clinical recovery. (The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.) Meanwhile, the FDA has announced shortages of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine "due to a significant surge in demand."

• The Joint Commission now supports use of face masks and respirators from home when health care organizations cannot provide them for their workers. In a statement, the group says, "The degree to which privately-owned masks and respirators will increase the protection of health care workers is uncertain. However, the balance of evidence suggests that it is positive."

• The CDC, noting that decontamination and reuse of disposable filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) may be needed, says the following decontamination methods show the most promise: ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, vaporous hydrogen peroxide, and moist heat. The agency emphasizes that FFRs are not meant to be reused, but "in times of crisis, this option may need to be considered."

• The Surviving Sepsis Campaign has issued recommendations on managing critically ill adults with COVID-19. Follow the link below for details.

On an encouraging note, a New England Journal of Medicine editorial suggests that "if we take ... six steps to mobilize and organize the nation, we can defeat COVID-19 by early June." Read more at the link below.