The COVID-19 pandemic sweeping much of the globe is not anticipated to be short in duration, with contingency plans suggesting that it may last at least eighteen months. In the United States, one of the critical issues in coping with the pandemic has been a lack of essential personal protective equipment (PPE), at the local, state, and national level. As COVID-19 is primarily transferred through respiratory routes, adequate respiratory protection is a dire necessity. The shift from durable and reusable medical supplies in recent years to their single use counterparts has reduced the resiliency of the medical system with respect to PPE and other critical supplies in the current pandemic. This work explores the role of reusable compared to single use respiratory protection in the current pandemic, including reprocessing of single use options, from the perspective of number of equivalent protection devices needed. The current state of literature is also reviewed to provide context to this work, with respect to resource procurement. The economic cost of PPE throughout a pandemic is explored, and it is found that utilizing reusable PPE options depending on filter cycling may be less costly. Increased waste production is another issue with the current pandemic, and this is explored utilizing a mass basis, finding that reusable respiratory PPE would generate less waste than using single use PPE in a business as usual scenario. As future outbreaks of COVID-19 are likely along with other future pandemics, this work provides insights at how to prepare from the standpoint of PPE, and in particular respiratory protection.

席卷全球大部分地区的 COVID-19 大流行预计持续时间不会短，应急计划表明它可能会持续至少十八个月。在美国，应对这一流行病的关键问题之一是地方、州和国家层面缺乏必要的个人防护装备（PPE）。由于 COVID-19 主要通过呼吸道途径传播，因此迫切需要充分的呼吸保护。近年来，从耐用和可重复使用的医疗用品向一次性医疗用品的转变，降低了医疗系统在当前大流行中个人防护装备和其他关键用品方面的弹性。这项工作探讨了可重复使用与一次性呼吸防护用品在当前大流行中的作用，包括从所需等效防护设备数量的角度对一次性使用方案进行再处理。还回顾了当前的文献状况，为这项工作提供资源采购方面的背景。研究人员探讨了整个大流行期间个人防护装备的经济成本，发现根据过滤器循环使用可重复使用的个人防护装备选项可能成本更低。废物产生增加是当前大流行的另一个问题，对此进行了大规模探索，发现可重复使用的呼吸个人防护装备比在正常情况下使用一次性个人防护装备产生的废物更少。由于未来 COVID-19 的爆发很可能会与其他未来的流行病一起爆发，因此这项工作提供了如何从个人防护装备（尤其是呼吸防护）的角度做好准备的见解。