Follow these certain steps to remove your gloves and mask without contaminating yourself.
Front line workers have a specific set of rules and steps they follow when taking off all that gear. You know, the masks, face shield, gowns, gloves, foot coverings- there is a specific order that front line workers need to follow when removing this protective stuff, in order to reduce their chances of contaminating themselves, and/or their environment in the process.
People who wear large amounts of PPE need to lean forward when removing their apron, and clean even their gloved hands multiple times during the whole ordeal. Head and neck coverings go off first, and then the gown, then the eye protectors. Finally their mask and boots come off. If dressed appropriately, front line workers look like they are wearing one layer of gloves but they actually have on multiple pairs. This is done in order to stay protected at various stages of removing their PPE.
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Most of us do not have to deal with all of this. Many people are being vigilant when it comes to their own health and that of others however, and are wearing masks when going out, and gloves when doing common things like grocery shopping. Most people are taking this protective gear home with them, and cleaning them for reuse or disposing of them in the garbage. Some, however, are not. The result is an increase in masks and gloves seen littered across streets in some urban areas. Grocery carts queued up outside stores have been found housing used surgical gloves, and masks and other personal protective equipment can be seen piling up near curbsides.
This is dangerous. If you have recently finished your shopping and you have gloves on, do not dispose of them on the ground. You may be concerned the gloves are contaminated from your time spent in the grocery store, but this presents an elevated risk to everyone else who must walk around them, and to those who must eventually clean them up.
There is a safe way to take your gloves off. To safely remove used plastic surgical gloves, the Centers for Disease Control has steps on its website you can follow.
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Grab one glove at the wrist without touching your bare skin. Peel this glove away, pulling it inside out. Next, hold this removed glove in your gloved hand and peel off the second glove by placing your fingers inside the glove on your hand, so as not to touch the outside. Peel the second glove off, turning it inside out around the first glove you took off. You should now have both gloves in a ball, inside out, in your hand. Dispose of this ball in a garbage can either at your home or outside. Then, wash your hands for twenty seconds with soap. If you can not do this until you drive home, ensure that you disinfect your steering wheel and door handles once home.
To remove a mask, grab hold of the loops behind your ears, and remove your mask gently. Do not touch the mask area. Dispose of the mask in a garbage can with a lid, if you can, or any garbage, if there is not one that is covered. This video shows you how to remove your mask.
Wash your hands immediately after taking off any PPE. If you are using a reusable cloth mask, wash it and hang it to dry, ready to be used again.
Throwing your used PPE on the sidewalk increases the risk to the public, and in a way, defeats the efforts you took in wearing it, in the first place. Help keep yourself, and your environment safe.
photo credit: Natale Zanardi/Shutterstock.com
