Covid 19 coronavirus: Nurse 'scared' after being told to 'reuse' single use protective equipment in Hawke's Bay

A nurse working for Hawke's Bay DHB says she's "scared" about the lack of protective gear in the region to fight Covid-19, saying they're already being asked to reuse 'one-use' equipment.

But Hawke's Bay DHB says staff safety is paramount, it has enough equipment at the moment, and it is working hard to source more in case of a surge in cases.

As of Thursday, Hawke's Bay had 19 cases of coronavirus, including three in a rest home. Ten of those were connected to international travel.

A nurse, who asked to remain anonymous, told Hawke's Bay Today the nature of their jobs meant getting right into the bubbles of patients.

"When we took the job, we understood what it meant, but it's still very scary, and we are anxious about potentially taking Covid-19 back to our families," she said.

"We feel our roles are not as valued as they should be."

She said nurses were being asked to reuse "disposable, one-off" visors, which she believed was concerning.

"The visors are supposed to be one-use only. They [the DHB] are recycling them," she said.

"The visors touch our faces, and that's a worry.

"Our concerns are - is there enough PPE equipment to go around and is re-sterilising equipment going to be as protective?" she said.

"Because of the asymptomatic carrier, nurses are anxious we can't protect ourselves, and I am not sure we are ready if the number of people infected by Covid-19 increased rapidly."

She said it was also "quite irritating" to see PPE equipment being misused when it was in such short supply.

"The other day I went to the supermarket and the security guard had his face mask around his neck. And he would keep removing it and putting it back on again," she said.

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HBDHB's acting Chief Operating Officer Chris Ash said the DHB was committed to making sure its front line staff were safe.

Ash said he understood staff needed to not only be safe but also to feel safe.

"We understand there is some anxiety amongst some of our staff and we are working hard to provide ongoing guidance, training and support to all our staff using national guidelines and working with our infection prevention and control experts," he said.

"The DHB has enough PPE, but is working with staff to ensure it's used appropriately."

Face visors can be used safely for four hours per time and there are also goggles which can be used and can be cleaned and reused.

Ash said there was a "large" number of face masks released to DHBs from the national pandemic stock which would be distributed to the DHBs.

"We will be getting those out as fast as we can, as soon as they arrive."

On Thursday Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said about 1.8 million face masks had been distributed to DHBs recently.

A further 41 million additional face masks will arrive from next week, Bloomfield said.

There are 23 million pairs of gloves and 800,000 glasses in the country at the moment.

"Our ICU staff are all geared up… to treat additional people," he said, adding that there are only two people in ICU related to Covid-19.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website