Last Updated on February 19, 2024 by Kimberly Crawford
As Canada faces its second wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, it has become crucial to follow health and safety guidelines in everything we do.
This holds for nearly everyone, but it’s exceptionally applicable to those who work in a healthcare setting. Most notably, it strikes close to home for frontline workers who are treating COVID-19 patients on an everyday basis.
If you work in the medical industry or manage the operations for a healthcare facility, it’s essential to learn about appropriate safety measures during this crucial time. Among other practices, this also refers to personal protective equipment (PPE) such as nitrile gloves.
Why Is It Important to Consider Nitrile Gloves During COVID-19?
By choosing the right material in critical PPE, such as disposable gloves, you can reduce your chances of contracting COVID-19 and subsequently spreading it through your local community. This helps lower the coronavirus’s overall spread and allows you to save more lives in the long run.
With its astounding durability and safer accessibility, nitrile stands apart from other PPE materials such as latex. That’s why you must learn more about nitrile and its exceptional benefits while ordering your next batch of disposable gloves.
To help you through this process, here’s why nitrile is the best type of protective glove to use during COVID-19.
1. They Offer Ideal Durability
First and foremost, nitrile stands apart from other common glove materials due to its extensive durability. This feature is prominent to the point where the material delivers significantly more puncture-resistance than popular alternatives such as latex.
This additional strength comes from the combination of acrylonitrile and butadiene, two copolymers that make for nitrile’s base composition. This reduces the chances of punctures and tears even with consistent use, which goes a long way towards providing protection to the wearer.
This quality of nitrile gloves provides you with the peace of mind that you need in COVID-19 treatment settings. With the added assurance of constant protection, you can continue helping infected patients without worrying about getting exposed to the virus.
2. They Steer Clear of Allergy Risks
With its fair durability in healthcare settings, latex is one of the most popular materials for disposable gloves. But it also comes with specific allergens that can trigger symptoms such as rashes, itching, or sneezing in some people.
On the other hand, nitrile is more durable than latex, but it is also clear of the allergens that latex can carry within itself. This makes it a safer option for medical settings, where the wearer or the patient could have a latex allergy without even knowing about it.
This makes nitrile a safer material in emergency rooms (ERs), where PPE is critical, but questioning remains scarce in life-threatening situations. Keeping this in mind, many health professionals choose nitrile over latex to avoid any risks.
3. They Provide Optimal Protection from Viruses
As compared to standard vinyl gloves, nitrile gloves come with optimal protection against viruses. Due to its overall structure, the synthetic material can block small viral agents from seeping through the surface and sticking to your hands.
This particular aspect is critical in COVID-19 treatment settings, where you need to maintain close contact with patients at all times. As a result, you can stay free of worries while performing procedures such as inserting a cannula or intubating a patient.
It is also helpful in terms of surgeries, where your hands have high exposure to bodily fluids. In combination with using other PPE, making sure that your hands remain protected through these procedures can help you reduce your risk of contracting COVID-19.
4. They Have Excellent Resistance to Oils
Nitrile disposable gloves also come with excellent resistance to oils and chemicals. This is in contrast with latex gloves that have a possibility of degeneration through exposure to certain materials. It is also different from vinyl gloves, which lack in delivering optimal protection to their wearer.
In an era where extensive use of hand sanitizer can dry your hands and often cause you to use moisturizers, the possibility of mistakenly degenerating your PPE is nothing but alarming.
That’s why going with a pair of nitrile gloves is a more suitable and timely choice. It helps you protect yourself and ensures that you are not inadvertently compromising your own safety. This may be considered a finer detail, but it plays a critical role in a comprehensive COVID-19 safety strategy.
5. They Are a Better Alternative to Other Options
Latex does not have extensive durability, while vinyl does not provide an optimal fit. On the other hand, nitrile excels in both of these areas. It lets you have maximum protection while also delivering excellent dexterity through your tasks.
Since nitrile disposable gloves are readily available, they also provide these benefits without making you jump through hoops. This makes sure that you can take advantage of the material’s optimal protection without going from one vendor to another.
In fact, nitrile disposable gloves are available through various online vendors, making sure that you don’t have to break your social distancing protocols to visit a pharmacy. If you need to order this critical PPE in Canada, you can visit a reliable online store and place your order
Nitrite is the Right Choice to Make During the Current Circumstances
Disposable nitrile gloves are tougher than common materials such as latex and vinyl. But they go beyond expectations in keeping you and those around you safe from harm.
At a time where you need a holistic safety strategy to curb the spread of COVID-19, choosing this material for your gloves can provide you with yet another tool to safeguard yourself and your loved ones.
You just need to make sure that the vendor you choose to buy these gloves has a reliable entity and a credible reputation. Remember that the reliability, credibility, and overall dependability plays a huge role in the decision making process. This ensures that you stay free of additional risks and get your required protection without any compromise at all.