Are breathalysers Covid-safe?

T

he police have stepped up efforts to reduce road accidents caused by drunk driving.

The preventable road carnage claims numerous lives every day, compelling the law enforcers to deploy breathalysers to detect and deter drunk driving.

Recently, the social media has been awash with tickets from transgressors fined as much as K200 000. The fines are quite frightening as economic hardship worsens.

However, the breathalysers have become handy to traffic police when it comes to determining alcohol concentration in drivers’ bloodstream.

Some breathalysers often seen on the roads of Malawi require a driver to exhale into a mouthpiece of a handheld gadget to provide accurate readings.

When one blows into the mouthpiece, the law enforcers can tell whether you are too drunk to drive.

However, the breathalysers have come under fire from drivers who feel that having more than one driver breathing into one mouthpiece can accelerate the risk of Covid -19 transmission.

Medical experts state that Covid-19 predominantly spreads through droplets from infected persons when coughing, sneezing, talking and contact with frequently touched surface.

Breathalysers involve forceful exhaling into a frequently used hole and minimal social distance for effective processing of the readings. Both requirements apparently contravene the Covid-19 prevention measures.

At roadside alcohol testing points, there are usually a number of people being tested and eager to argue their cases if found drunk. Such overcrowding increases the probability of spreading Covid-19, poising a huge hazard to the law enforcers and everyone around them.

All the drivers being tested go through the same risky process, with little or no effort to adequately sanitise the instrument.

The breathalysers could be superspreaders as the country grapples with the fourth wave.

If not conducted in line with the recommended Covid-19 preventive measures, the instrument could undermine government’s efforts to contain the pandemic.

The alcohol-detection tool puts police officers equally at a high risk due to inadequate personal protection props when undertaking the perilous test. 

This is not to advise the police to completely halt the use of breathalyser across the country nor facilitate a honeymoon for those who drive dangerously under the influence of alcohol.

Rather, I am advocating for safe testing protocols to eliminate unsafe practices likely to fuel the spread of Covid-19 while maintaining law and order on roads of Malawi.

This health concern from unsafe use of breathalysers is not only limited to the police service, but also all essential industries and companies that use the tool to enhance occupation health and safety in their workplaces.

Currently, oral fluid alcohol screening solution has proved to be an effective and less risky alternative to the breathalyser. The solution, approved by the US Department of Transportation, can be administered without any physical contact between tester and the tested.

This makes it safer and should be considered in our country to complement our national efforts to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic as well as road carnage caused by drunken drivers.  

While all sectors and institutions are working hard to contain Covid-19 and its impacts, it is my plea to the police service to take precautionary standards and try safe technologies such as the risk-free solution.

It does not make sense for police officers to apprehend an unmasked individual while they themselves keep conducting unsafe alcohol screening.