A brief guidance for cardiologists for resource containment measures to mitigate anticipated shortages of n-95 filtering facepiece respirators during COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether the patients are initially managed conservatively or transferred to cardiac cath lab for interventions, it is imperative to ensure availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), including N-95 filtering facepiece respirators (N-95 FFRs) for all cardiologists and intensivists who are managing such patients This is because patients with ACS (who are often sick) may need emergency anesthetic intervention either by oxygen therapy, noninvasive ventilation (NIV), or emergent intubation, which all are aerosol generating procedures Recently, the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American Heart Association, and 11 other cardiovascular and healthcare societies issued a joint statement expressing concerns and seeking federal action “over the critical shortages of medical equipment, including ventilators, test kits and PPE (masks, face shields, and gowns) to address the public health crisis due to COVID-19 ” [ ]the CDC recommends that healthcare institutions should focus efforts on the following technologies as decontamination methods [Table 1]:{Table 1} 1 [ ]based on current evidence, it may be unwise to use this method for FFR decontamination 4