Helping Nurses and Doctors during pandemic

[Sarathescenic]

Hi All,

I have a friend who is a nurse and she was telling me about the face shield she has to wear when treating patients. It’s the same kind of face shield that carpenters use. The cleaning wipes her hospital gave her to sanitize the shield is clouding up the clear plastic making it hard for her to see what she is doing.

Have any of you worked with a self-leveling matte clear coat that dries clear enough to see through and will stick to plastic? It’s a big ask. My friend is also looking into other sanitizing wipe options, but I thought if we could give her something to coat the shield it would extent the life a bit.

Thanks,
Sara

[Kimber]

There is really no easy clear coat answer. Look at any Youtube video on cleaning up old car headlights. That is kind of what you would be talking about.. and that stuff really does not work. The plastic used for most of these face shields is different still. It takes a factory to get on something that sticks.

So look at it this way. Cleaning and disinfecting are two different things. VERY simply put, the virus relies on an oily coating to survive and “stick” on things. That is why soap is so effective. Soap is a good surfactant. It enables the virus to be shed from your hands and killed. A disinfectant such as alcohol combined with water pierces through the oily layer to dissipate it, thus killing the virus. But the disinfectant has to linger for a time in order to do this.

So spraying/wiping Windex, for instance, would clean the surface because it is a grease cutter. Perhaps a %60 alcohol spray could then be applied to get what is left, followed by a water spray to remove the alcohol after it kills the germs, but before it eats into the plastic. No idea what the timing of that would be or it is a short enough time to avoid the clouding.  Otherwise, after cleaning, the alternatives are  heat and UV light. Shields would have to be exchanged while the other shields are being disinfected.

Or you just use them, wipe them down with the alcohol wipes until you can’t see out of them and replace the shield. Which is probably what will happen.

Kimber

[Steph]

If it’s a professional shield, there should be a label on it. Call the manufacturer, explain the situation and get their recommendation for their particular product.

We need to be taking particular care right now with cleaning products as well, as regular supplies of known cleaning substances run out, substitutes are being used without being vetted.  The cleaning material suggested by the company may not be one that will kill the virus. 2 steps may be needed.

For instance I know of several situations where custodial staff have suffered chemical burns because management substituted different cleaning supplies without providing proper training and protective equipment.

If the plastic shield is etched, she could try NOVUS plastic polish, but again, I would check directly with the manufacturer and be sure it’s safe for something worn so near the face and mouth.

I hope your friend has figured something out by this time. Thank her for her work, on behalf of all of us. I hope she is safe.

[Author]

Posts