Development of a visual marker for monitoring the level of protection of reusable medical gowns used in the context of COVID-19

The current health crisis, linked to the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, that it is going through our country has clearly shown the pressure carried by the health personnel. The people at the front of this fight will have to be equipped by appropriate protective equipment. This equipment has barrier properties (to water or agents pathogens) to eliminate or reduce the spread, wetting and penetration of droplets carriers of the virus on and in the fibres. Among the protective equipment there are among others the gowns of reusable protection. These products experience a drop in the level of protection after repeated washing/drying cycles, which which eventually render them ineffective. At this stage, a problem arises in connection with the identification of end-of-life gowns whose finishing treatment is weakened by washing, without resorting to tests in laboratories. Currently, a performance evaluation is made via a simple water repellency test carried out after each wash cycle. However, water repellency alone is not sufficient to assess the resistance to penetration of liquids. With this in mind, it is desirable to develop an end-of-life indicator that can be integrated into medical gowns. protection, washable and reusable for healthcare personnel. This indicator will allow easy identification of the end of the gown performance by a visually detectable color change.