Field investigation of the heat stress in outdoor of healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment in South China.

Since the advent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), healthcare workers (HCWs) wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) has become a common phenomenon. COVID-19 outbreaks overlap with heat waves, and healthcare workers must unfortunately wear PPE during hot weather and experience excessive heat stress. Healthcare workers are at risk of developing heat-related health problems during hot periods in South China. The investigation of thermal response to heat stress among HCWs when they do not wear PPE and when they finish work wearing PPE, and the impact of PPE use on HCWs' physical health were conducted. The field survey were conducted in Guangzhou, including 11 districts. In this survey, HCWs were invited to answer a questionnaire about their heat perception in the thermal environment around them. Most HCWs experienced discomfort in their back, head, face, etc., and nearly 80% of HCWs experienced "profuse sweating." Up to 96.81% of HCWs felt "hot" or "very hot." The air temperature had a significant impact on thermal comfort. Healthcare workers' whole thermal sensation and local thermal sensation were increased significantly by wearing PPE and their thermal sensation vote (TSV) tended towards "very hot." The adaptive ability of the healthcare workers would decreased while wearing PPE. In addition, the accept range of the air temperature (T a) were determined in this investigation. Graphical Abstract.

Investigation of the effects of face masks on thermal comfort in Guangzhou, China.

Wearing masks to study and work places has become a daily protective measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the summer of 2021, environmental parameters were monitored, and students in a university library in Guangzhou, China, were surveyed to analyze the possible symptoms of wearing masks for a long time, and to assess the sensitivity of various body parts to the environmental parameters. Concurrently, the preference of subjects wearing masks for various environmental parameters was also analyzed. Additionally, the relationship between thermal sensation and thermal index was analyzed to identify acceptable and comfortable temperature ranges. The expected duration of wearing masks was counted. Subjects wearing masks had greater requirements for environmental comfort, and reported increased thermal discomfort of the face and head, compared to those without masks. More than 70% of the subjects wearing masks reported that they experienced discomfort on their faces. Among the subjects who experienced discomfort, 62.7% reported that facial fever was the main symptom; while some reported symptoms of dyspnea (25.4%) and rapid heartbeat (9.1%). More than 75% of the subjects were expected to wear masks for 2.0 h or less. Evaluation of environmental thermal sensation, including overall, facial, and head thermal sensation, differed among subjects who wore and did not wear masks. The indexes of neutral Operative temperature/Standard Effective Temperature (T op /SET*) and preferred T op /SET* were lower among subjects with masks than among those without masks. The neutral T op /SET* deviation was 0.3 °C, and the preferred T op /SET* deviation was 0.5 °C. Additionally, the acceptable and comfortable temperature zones differed between the two cases. The subjects who wore masks preferred colder temperatures. These findings indicated that the environmental parameters should be adjusted to improve the thermal comfort of the human body while wearing masks in work or study places.

[Development, operational dilemma and tentative idea for construction mechanism of fever clinic in China].

Establishing fever clinic was an important achievement of the fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, and played an important role in the subsequent outbreaks of H1N1, H7N9 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Fever clinics have significant emergency characteristics, but there are no rescue conditions in the fever clinics. Consequently, the problem of establishment and management of fever clinics is still outstanding. Based on the development of fever clinics, this paper analyzes the operational dilemma of fever clinics, explores the measures of establishment and management of fever clinics, and constructs the operational mechanism of fever clinics in order to provide the basis for the emergency management system of public health emergencies, which is suitable for Chinese health system.