TABLE 3

Recommended type of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the context of COVID-19 disease

Setting	Target staff	Activity	Type of PPE/procedure
COVID-19 patient room	Healthcare workers	Providing direct care	FFP2 mask^#
			Double non-sterile gloves
			Long-sleeved water-resistant gown
			Goggles or face shield
		Aerosol-generating procedures performed on COVID-19 patients	FFP3 mask
			Double non-sterile gloves
			Long-sleeved water-resistant gown
			Goggles or face shield
	Cleaners	Entering the room of COVID-19 patients	FFP2 mask^#
			Heavy duty gloves
			Gown
			Goggles or face shield
			Boots or closed work shoes
	Visitors	Visitors to COVID-19 patients are not allowed in Italy
Ambulance or transfer vehicle COVID-19 patient	Healthcare workers	Transporting suspected COVID-19 patients	FFP2 mask^#
			Double non-sterile gloves
			Long-sleeved water-resistant gown
			Goggles or face shield
Outpatient facilities	Healthcare workers	Patient with respiratory symptom	Medical mask
			Gloves
			Disposable gown
			Face shield
		Patient without respiratory symptom	Not indicated
	Cleaners	After and between consultations of patients with respiratory symptoms	Medical mask
			Heavy duty gloves
			Gown
			Goggles or face shield
			Boots or closed work shoes
Waiting room	Patient		Patients with respiratory symptoms must wear a medical mask. If possible isolate patients with respiratory symptoms, otherwise keep a distance of 1 m from each other

While the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests wearing a surgical mask except in aerosol generating procedures, both the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control report [5] and Italian Health Department [6] suggest the use of a FFP2 mask in case of suspected/confirmed COVID-19 and FFP3 in aerosol generating procedures. ^#: WHO suggest the use of a medical mask instead of FFP2. Reproduced with modification from [3] with permission from WHO.