CPAP Machines Were Seen As Ventilator Alternatives, But Could Spread COVID-19

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'CPAP Machines Were Seen As Ventilator Alternatives, But Could Spread COVID-19' NPR, March 27, 2020.

The limited supply of ventilators is one of the chief concerns facing hospitals as they prepare for more COVID-19 cases. In Italy, where hospitals have been overwhelmed with patients in respiratory failure, doctors have had to make difficult life-or-death decisions about who gets a ventilator and who does not.

In the U.S., emergency plans developed by states for a shortage of ventilators include using positive airway pressure machines — like those used to treat sleep apnea — to help hospitalized people with less severe breathing issues.



-- Photo: The mouthpiece of a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device delivers enough pressurized air to keep the breathing passage of someone who has obstructive sleep apnea open throughout the night.

While that measure could stretch the supply of ventilators and save lives, it has a major drawback. Officials and scientists have known for years that when used with a face mask, such alternative devices can possibly increase the spread of infectious disease by aerosolizing the virus, whether used in the hospital or at home.

Indeed, that very scenario may have contributed to the spread of COVID-19 within a Washington state nursing home that became ground zero in the United States. First responders called to the Life Care Center of Kirkland starting Feb. 24 initially used positive airway pressure machines, often known as CPAPs, to treat residents before it was known the patients were infected with COVID-19.

"It's best practice for us for people with respiratory illnesses," said Jim Whitney, medical services administrator for the Redmond Fire Department, whose crews responded to the nursing home's 911 calls. "We had no idea that we potentially had COVID patients there."...

More, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/27/822211604/cpap-machines-were-seen-as-ventilator-alternatives-but-could-spread-covid-19