The fight against the dreaded Coronavirus has brought about many new and unique contraptions and gadgets to help people deal with the pandemic, either as patients or as front liners battling the disease. The UK has been the first to widely use innovative respiratory hoods for health workers treating their patients afflicted with the virus. The PerSo device is a plastic visor to protect the face, in a fabric hood that uses a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter using a fan mounted on the wearer’s belt. Medical staff at University Hospital Southampton have begun using the equipment within a week after the prototype was developed.
Researchers worked together with F1 team McLaren and industry experts including INDO and Kemp Sails to come out with the design, which will be available to any manufacturer all over the planet.However, the equipment has not yet received regulatory approval for use as an alternative to FFP3 masks with visors for staff in high-risk areas of the hospitals. It was primarily developed by the University of Southampton and the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Center, and is currently undergoing evaluation.
“Frontline medical staff are constantly at risk of being exposed to COVID-19 infection, and personal protective equipment (PPE) has been a recurrent subject of debate through the pandemic,” said professor Paul Elkington, consultant in respiratory medicine of Southampton. He goes on to explain that the objective was to develop something simple yet effective in providing protection and resolve issues with disposable PPE’s. “The HEPA filtered air removes more than 99.95% of particulate matter and the face mask protects from splashes and accidental touching, so we believe this will significantly reduce the risk of infection further,” he adds.
The Chief Medical Officer at UHS, Dr. Derek Sandeman, has ordered 5,000 PerSo units, and said, “ We have every confidence this will become a very important piece of healthcare equipment globally.” Definitely any new tool to help the health workers is welcome, and the red-tape that usually comes with government approval should be set aside. Time is not on our side, and the quicker we resolve the problem of Coronavirus, the safer we will all be.
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