The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes that the need for personal protective equipment (PPE), such as surgical masks, surgical and isolation gowns, and surgical suits, may outpace the supply available to healthcare organization during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.
The following conservation strategies for use by healthcare organizations and personnel are categorized for a range of needs and supply levels and are intended to assist healthcare organizations as they determine operating procedures during the COVID-19 outbreak. These strategies do not cover N95 respirators and are not limited to use in the care of patients infected with COVID-19. The FDA’s recommendations are intended to augment, and not intended to replace, specific controls and procedures developed by healthcare organizations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) to aid in infection prevention and control.