Photos show how shortages are forcing doctors and nurses to improvise coronavirus PPE from snorkel masks, pool noodles, and trash bags

Sophia AnkelApr 23, 2020, 22:54 IST

An emergency nurse (ICU) dressed in garbage bags and a protective mask loaned altruistically by a private company at the emergency entrance door of the San Jorge hospital on March 31, 2020 in Huesca, Spain.Álvaro Calvo / Getty Images

Doctors, nurses, and other medics have been forced to find their own ways to shield themselves from the coronavirus, amid a global shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Photos on social media show how doctors and nurses are getting creative by making their own protective gear, including using snorkel masks and wearing trash bags over their scrubs.
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Doctors, nurses, and medical staff working on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic are being forced to improvise due to a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).

To protect themselves against the infectious virus, some medical staff are having to get creative with everyday items, including snorkel masks and raincoats.

PPE shortages have been a significant problem in several countries, including the US, where the largest nurses union was seen staging a protest for more adequate protective equipment in front of the White House on Tuesday.

Scroll down to see to the lengths to which some doctors and nurses are going to protect themselves against the coronavirus without proper PPE.

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But the community is also helping out. For instance, a licensed nurse practitioner in Las Vegas is designing makeshift face shields. They are made from a piece of polyethylene foam cut from a pool noodle, a sheet of transparency film, and a rubber band.

Dr. Rhigel Jay Tan, a licensed nurse practitioner, makes custom-made face shields at his home for health care workers in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 22, 2020. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

But the community is also helping out. For instance, a licensed nurse practitioner in Las Vegas is designing makeshift face shields. They are made from a piece of polyethylene foam cut from a pool noodle, a sheet of transparency film, and a rubber band.

Another popular regular item which is being employed for protection is the full-face snorkel mask, which was first used by healthcare workers in Italy who turned them into respirator masks.

The most sought-after piece of equipment is an FFP3 mask, which has the highest safety levels for medical staff. But since these are in short supply globally, some doctors are acquiring gas masks instead.

In the UK, some doctors are buying boxes of ski goggles as an alternative.

Gowns are not the only piece of equipment there is a shortage of. A lack of medical goggles is forcing some doctors to turn to swim goggles instead.

In India, the shortage of protective equipment is forcing doctors to turn instead to motorbike helmets and thin plastic raincoats, which can easily rip during a shift.

A doctor wearing a torn raincoat stands at the major coronavirus disease treatment facility in Kolkata, India on March 26, 2020. Reuters

But these measures don't always work. Several nurses in the UK who were forced to wear trash bags during their shifts tested positive for the virus, while one nurse in New York died.

Some medics have adapted as best they can, for instance including wearing trash bags over their scrubs for an additional layer of safety.

A lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has been a serious problem in lots of countries fighting the coronavirus.

In a protest pleading for adequate PPE which was arranged on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building, 1,000 pop-up signs show the faces of nurses and frontline healthcare workers on April 17, 2020, in Washington, DC. Paul Morigi/Getty Images for MoveOn

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Photos show how shortages are forcing doctors and nurses to improvise coronavirus PPE from snorkel masks, pool noodles, and trash bags

But the community is also helping out. For instance, a licensed nurse practitioner in Las Vegas is designing makeshift face shields. They are made from a piece of polyethylene foam cut from a pool noodle, a sheet of transparency film, and a rubber band.

Another popular regular item which is being employed for protection is the full-face snorkel mask, which was first used by healthcare workers in Italy who turned them into respirator masks.

The most sought-after piece of equipment is an FFP3 mask, which has the highest safety levels for medical staff. But since these are in short supply globally, some doctors are acquiring gas masks instead.

In the UK, some doctors are buying boxes of ski goggles as an alternative.

Gowns are not the only piece of equipment there is a shortage of. A lack of medical goggles is forcing some doctors to turn to swim goggles instead.

In India, the shortage of protective equipment is forcing doctors to turn instead to motorbike helmets and thin plastic raincoats, which can easily rip during a shift.

But these measures don't always work. Several nurses in the UK who were forced to wear trash bags during their shifts tested positive for the virus, while one nurse in New York died.

Some medics have adapted as best they can, for instance including wearing trash bags over their scrubs for an additional layer of safety.

A lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has been a serious problem in lots of countries fighting the coronavirus.