Posted on 09/12/2014 9:41:19 PM PDT by TigerClaws
RONKONKOMA, N.Y., Sept. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Lakeland Industries, Inc. (LAKE), a leading global manufacturer of industrial protective clothing for industry, municipalities, healthcare and to first responders on the federal, state and local levels, today announced the global availability of its protective apparel for use in handling the Ebola virus. In response to the increasing demand for specialty protective suits to be worm by healthcare workers and others being exposed to Ebola, Lakeland is increasing its manufacturing capacity for these garments and includes proprietary processes for specialized seam sealing, a far superior technology for protecting against viral hazards than non-sealed products.
"Lakeland stands ready to join the fight against the spread of Ebola," said Christopher J. Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lakeland Industries. "We understand the difficulty of getting appropriate products through a procurement system that in times of crisis favors availability over specification, and we hope our added capacity will help alleviate that problem. With the U.S. State Department alone putting out a bid for 160,000 suits, we encourage all protective apparel companies to increase their manufacturing capacity for sealed seam garments so that our industry can do its part in addressing this threat to global health.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Might be helpful but the suites themselves are spreading the disease.....they’re extremely hot in side with the temperatures there as they are...so medical staff often open them just for relief as they come close to passing out.
It’s a bad situation all around.......
The inventor's BROTHER-IN-LAW has the factory and wants the contract.
Because the durn things are disposable and must be replaced at least several times a day?
Because the ruling class gets taken care of first. The commoners are expendable.
The suit in question.
http://www.lakeland.com/our-products/chemical-protective-clothing/chemmax/chemmax-1.html
This variety has the tyvek layer, which is hot enough, but also a poly layer for liquid protection, so it doesn’t even breathe. I use the tyvek ones, no poly layer normally, all the time, and they are, as you say, really hot, especially if you’re doing anything physical.
Add no AC in Africa and appropriate respiratory protection, and I don’t see how doctors can work in this gear at all.
It should be noted that hazmat suits and other PPE are by definition only backup for sanitation, which reduces the pathogen load in the environment.
Using even the best PPE in an extremely hazardous environment remains quite dangerous.
It’s a little bit like wearing a condom when having sex with someone you know has AIDS. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not nearly as safe as reducing the risk factor itself and also using protection.
“It’s a little bit.” Really? how much of a “bit?”
A lot, actually.
Place the body where it is surrounded and/or covered by deadly pathogens, and then try to protect the body from those pathogens by a thin layer of protective material.
Very much the same thing.
People greatly overestimate the effectiveness of PPE for most situations and underestimate the efficiency drop in work done while wearing it.
.....” I don’t see how doctors can work in this gear at all”......
One Dr. there wrote about this...I recall him saying they had to limit the time in these suites otherwise they were passing out.
But for surgery hours they had no choice but to remove long enough to breath.
HOW HAZMAT SUITS THEMSELVES CAN CONTAMINATE MEDICAL WORKERS
Not a bad article. The achilles heel of PPE is indeed the removal process. Getting the suit off and disposed of without the outside of the suit coming into contact with any part of the body is really tough.
The most effective approach is to thoroughly decontaminate the outside of the suit before doffing it. But that generally requires specialty facilities and often specialty suits.
For an eight hour shift, a person normally needs 2 to 4 suits. The more elaborate the donning and doffing process, the more it eats into the time available for whatever work you’re trying to do.
Given the considerably reduced production rate of someone while actually wearing PPE, their production per day for a given procedure is often well under half that of a person doing the same task without IPPE. When you factor in donning and doffing time, etc.
There is also the fatigue factor. Working in PPE is much more tiring that the same duration and type of work done without it. Tired people make mistakes, including mistakes with how they use their PPE.
So if the workers can be contaminated by particles that have landed on their hazmat suits should they be taken off inefficiently, why wouldn’t they still be contaminated by the particles themselves landing on their clothing or skin while not wearing the suits?
Why does the U.S. government need 160,000 ebola haz mat suits?
Lakeland doesn’t care. They only want to sell 160,000 units even if they are of little practical use in this crisis.
I know companies that make millions off situations like this. They hope it works but more importantly they want the orders.
I believe there are better options.
I don’t think they have enough stored.
There shouldn’t be some numerical imperative and then they need to catch up.
Personally, I’m talking to my brother, when we go hiking, about adding these to our stores.
Nothing to see here,
"...you can't catch it that easily..."
"you practically have to have someone who is infected vomit on you or bleed on you"
"there is no danger..."
"...it isn't that contagious..."
"...any hospital can handle this if they just put the patient in a room alone and use proper procedures..."
"This'll only hurt for a little while..."
(and other lies and misconceptions)
Whew! I am SO glad these people are keeping us safe. (/S)
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
Just running some numbers from the reports presented...
Present infected numbers are about 5000. If medical staff need 2-4 changes of suits per 8hr shift, with 3-8hr shifts/day, they need 6-12 suits per staff worker per day or 180-360 / month.
160,000 / 10 = 16,000 staff days or about 530 staff months available.
The infected rate is doubling about once a week in newly infected areas and reduces to doubling about once per month after several months at 1000 or more infected. It takes about 2-22 days to incubate before tests show positive infection. So if you are suspect, you need to be quarantined and observed for about a month.
Those in later stages may experience a Fight or Flight syndrome, which will require physical restraint to protect public safety. Imposing that restraint may shoot the caregiver to patient ratio to at least 5:1.
One can argue 160,000 suits are only adequate to support 100 ebola victims per month.
Additionally, glove removal may be the riskiest part of changing suits, sometimes requiring double gloving. I suspect staffs with limited resources will reuse the suits as feasible and double up on glove usage. It might also be the source for high infection rates amongst medical staff.
Might sound like a lucrative business venture,....except those who are victims, tend to die, so the financial burden must be borne by those remaining alive.
The inventor’s BROTHER-IN-LAW has the factory and wants the contract.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.