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Medical gloves in the era of coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

The current coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) pandemic has greatly changed our perspective of the risk for infection from contact, and the use of personal protective devices (PPDs) usually reserved for health care workers (HCWs) has spread to the general population, sometimes indiscriminately. As a result, medical glove stock has been depleted, but most of all medical gloves have become a source of medical concern., , ,

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned about the limited protective efficacy of gloves. There is high risk for infection spread with their incorrect use that could instead favor the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Regular use of gloves for daily activities may lead to a false sense of protection and to an increased risk for self-contamination. This would involve the involuntary touching of the face or the spreading of fomites to desks, phones, and computers keyboards. A study has found that viruses can survive on gloves for 2 to 4 hours.5

Hand-to-face contact has a substantial role in upper respiratory tract infections,6 , 7 although COVID-19’s main way of transmission remains symptomatic person-to-person through respiratory droplets., , , The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have recently provided guidance to regulate the use of gloves both in the health care setting and in the community.2 , 4 In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (Table 1 ), gloves are recommended when caring for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients, especially when there is the risk of contact with body fluids (eg, blood, wound care, aerosol-generating procedures).