The Latest: Italian region using strap-on breathing masks

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on the virus outbreak (all times local):

8 p.m.

Italy’s Lombardy region, the center of the European virus outbreak, is getting around its limited capacity to put patients in isolated intensive care units by using strap-on masks that provide continuous breathing assistance.

Lombardy’s top health official, Giulio Gallera, says the masks, called CPAPs, which stand for continuous positive airway pressure, can be used in any hospital ward outfitted for respiratory assistance, freeing up ICU units for critical patients who really need them.



South Korean soldiers wearing protective gears walk to spray disinfectant as a precaution against the new coronavirus in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 3, 2020. China's coronavirus caseload continued to wane Tuesday even as the epidemic took a firmer hold beyond Asia. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)


Read more: https://apnews.com/c36518bb11cd81d7e002348d51e50799

[GoneOffShore]

1. That's an 'unfortunate' headline. Almost qualifies for a DUzy.

[underpants]

2. I'm sorry. I don't know what you mean. Please explain

[GoneOffShore]

10. I'm sure we can find someone to explain it to you.

[truthisfreedom]

11. Uhh...heh heh they said "strap-on". Heh.

[cstanleytech]

7. Aye, would have been very amusing had the headline just been "Italian region using strap-ons."

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. My mind went there as well.

[DownriverDem]

3. Going more south in June

We have a wedding to go to near Sienna. We don't know if we will be able to go.

[Maggiemayhem]

4. I know exactly what you mean

My mother and my neighbor both used CPAPs as an alternative to being on a ventilator.

[Danascot]

5. I don't get it

When you exhale using a CPAP it just goes out into the air. It probably helps some but if they cough, virus bearing droplets are expelled out into the air. Maybe if they also built some effective filtration into the exhale port.

[Mendocino]

6. You are correct.

CPAP is for labored breathing. The filters only catch particulates not pathogens.

[truthisfreedom]

12. Exactly. Unless highly modified a normal cpap only provides positive

Pressure airway assistance. I have one for sleep apnea but I imagine they’re very helpful for respiratory conditions.

[Mendocino]

9. The images in the picture

are not CPAP. The soldiers are wearing what appears as N99 masks, hazmat suits and garden sprayers.

[csziggy]

13. That photo has nothing to do with the story in the OP

The caption for the picture which is included in the OP:

South Korean soldiers wearing protective gears walk to spray disinfectant as a precaution against the new coronavirus in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 3, 2020. China's coronavirus caseload continued to wane Tuesday even as the epidemic took a firmer hold beyond Asia. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

[Mendocino]

14. Correct

but showing the image gives the impression that it a CPAP device. I know its not, you know its not, but some may see that and believe it is.