Details:

Alternative Title:
Antiviral Res
Publisher's site:
http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/hs.2021.0166|10.1007/s41542-020-00064-3|10.1177/0033354921996688|10.1017/ice.2021.218
Personal Author:
Rodriguez, Sergio E. ; Hawman, David W. ; Sorvillo, Teresa E. ; O’Neal, T. Justin ; Bird, Brian H. ; ... More +
Rodriguez, Sergio E. ; Hawman, David W. ; Sorvillo, Teresa E. ; O’Neal, T. Justin ; Bird, Brian H. ; Rodriguez, Luis L. ; Bergeron, Éric ; Nichol, Stuart T. ; Montgomery, Joel M. ; Spiropoulou, Christina F. ; Spengler, Jessica R. Less -
Description:
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for N95 respirators far exceeded the supply, leading to widespread shortages. Initially, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not recommend N95 respirators in nonhealthcare settings, in order to reserve them for healthcare workers. As N95s became more available, the recommendations were updated in May 2021 to include N95 respirators for nonhealthcare settings. In this study, we estimated the numbers of N95s needed for nonhealthcare essential workers in the United States. This information is valuable for crisis preparedness and planning for future large-scale communicable respiratory infectious disease epidemics or pandemics. We adapted a spreadsheet-based tool originally built to estimate the potential demand for N95 respirators during an influenza pandemic. We defined nonhealthcare essential occupations according to the 2020 US Department of Homeland Security guidance and used US Bureau of Labor Statistics employment numbers and Occupational Information Network data as model parameters. We modeled minimum, intermediate, and maximum N95 provision scenarios (as 1, 2, and 5 N95 respirators, respectively) per week per worker, for pandemic durations of 15 and 40 weeks. For 85.15 million nonhealthcare essential workers during a 15-week pandemic, an estimated 1.3 billion N95 respirators would be needed under minimum provision scenarios, 2.6 billion for intermediate provision, and 6.4 billion for maximum provision. During a 40-week pandemic, these estimates increased to 3.4 billion, 6.8 billion, and 17 billion. Public health authorities and policymakers can use these estimates when considering workplace respirator-wearing practices, including prioritization of allocation, for nonhealthcare essential workers. Our novel spreadsheet-based tool can also be used to quickly generate estimates of other preparedness and response equipment.
Subject:
[+]
Article
Communicable Diseases
COVID-19
Health Personnel
Humans
Masks
N95 Respirators
Pandemics
Respiratory Protective Devices
United States

Source:
Antiviral Res. 199:105244
Pubmed ID:
35026307
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC9245446
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:811ae7c808df924ccaa76b8243e019c9ef1fd637d24d33abc8b6a455d055a1cd
File Type:

Supporting Files

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