Table 1. Comparisons of personal protective equipment recommendations from the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the European CDC, and Korea CDC [9,10,37,47].
| Settings | KCDC (March 2020) | WHO (April 2020) | CDC (May 2020) | ECDC (May 2020) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triage: patient examination with direct contact | • KF94 mask or equivalent respirator | • Medical mask | • N95 respirator (or facemask if a respirator is not available) | • Surgical mask or, if available, FFP2 respirator | |
| • Eye protectiona | • Eye protectiona | • Eye protectiona | • Eye protectiona | ||
| • Gownb or coveralls with foot covers | • Gownb | • Gloves | • Gownb or apron | ||
| • Gloves | • Gloves | • Gloves | |||
| Usual inpatient care | • KF94 mask or equivalent respirator | • Medical mask | • N95 respirator (or higher-level respirator) or facemask (if a respirator is not available) | • Surgical mask or, if available, FFP2 respirator | |
| • Eye protectiona | • Eye protectiona | • Eye protectiona | • Eye protectiona | ||
| • Gownb or coveralls with foot covers | • Gownb | • Gown | • Gownb or apron | ||
| • Gloves | • Gloves | • Gloves | • Gloves | ||
| Aerosol-generating proceduresc | • KF94 mask, equivalent respirator, or PAPR | • N95, FFP2, or FFP3 respirator | • N95 or higher-level respirator | • FFP3 respirator | |
| • Eye protectiona | • Eye protection | • Eye protectiona | • Eye protectiona | ||
| • Gownb or coveralls with foot covers | • Gownb | • Gownb | • Gownb | ||
| • Gloves | • Gloves | • Gloves | • Gloves | ||
| • Apron (if gowns are not fluid-resistant) | |||||
| Collecting specimens (not involving aerosol-generating procedures) | • KF94 mask, equivalent respirator, or PAPR | • Medical mask | • N95 or higher-level respirator (or facemask if a respirator is not available) | Enclosed spaces: | |
| • Eye protectiona | • Eye protectiona | • Eye protectiona | • Surgical mask or, if available. FFP respirator | ||
| • Gownb or coveralls with foot covers | • Gownb | • Gownb | • Eye protectiona | ||
| • Gloves | • Gloves | • Gloves | • Gownb, gloves | ||
| Drive-through or outdoor facilities: | |||||
| • Surgical mask | |||||
WHO, World Health Organization; CDC, Centers for Disease Prevention and Control; ECDC, European Centers for Disease Prevention and Control; KCDC, Korea Centers for Disease Prevention and Control; PAPR, powered air-purifying respirator; FFP, filtering facepiece.
aEye protection includes goggles or a face shield.
bGown refers to a long-sleeved, fluid-resistant gown.
cAerosol-generating procedures include endotracheal intubation, non-invasive ventilation, tracheostomy, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, manual ventilation, bronchoscopy, open suctioning, sputum induction, nebulizer therapy, etc.