Just read something which made me wonder how many people are aware of a major change to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).  Basically put, don't give mouth to mouth breathing, just chest compression only at a rate of 100 to 120 p[er minute (i.e. bloody fast).  See https://www.resus.org.uk/media/statements/resuscitation-council-uk-statements-on-covid-19-coronavirus-cpr-and-resuscitation/covid-community/ for more details.

https://youtu.be/f4ZI1PAsmks shows the new recommended procedure.

Essentially the same advice as for someone with a facial injury, but with added towel. You can still use mouth to mouth if you're prepared to, i.e. a member of your family.

Pocket masks you can buy are also useful. However, not certain how safe they are re covid-19.

The laerdal one has a one way valve & filter, so should be effective (provided you're carrying it).

Alex said:

Pocket masks you can buy are also useful. However, not certain how safe they are re covid-19.

Click to expand...

Not very, I would guess, or they would have advised their use.

There is also advice not to use a bag valve mask as it is an aerosol generating procedure (unless you have level 3 PPE which rescue teams and community responders will generally not).

Consequently even rescue teams may be doing compression-only CPR.

Pocket masks still require you to be very close to the casualty's face, which is what they are really advising against.

UK Resuscitation Council recommended level 2 PPE (ie FFP3 mask or equivalent, eye protection, gloves and waterproof gown) before doing ANY resuscitation beyond defibrillation in hospital. This included NOT doing chest compressions before donning kit. In most settings, this creates a delay between diagnosis of cardiac arrest and effective treatment, though it doesn't affect us on intensive care (where everyone is suited up already). It's pretty difficult NOT to intervene when faced with a patient in cardiac arrest, and I know of a lot of people who've just gone for it, irrespective of PPE guidelines. Some of them have subsequently contracted Covid, others haven't.

I'm not sure how this fits in with latest compression-only guidelines (which are new to me, so may represent a recent change in advice). There's always been agreement that bag-valve-mask ventilation even with an in-line filter, is a potential aerosol generating procedure and mouth-mouth, even with a pocket-mask, is definitely a bad idea.