Is vinyl porous, (e.g.) gloves and bed covers.?

My sister insist that it is true. She is a nurse assistant and she was told at her place of business that vinyl is porous. I have not been able to find helpful information on the internet. It just does not make sense to me, if vinyl is porous why use it as a means for protection. Please explain if u can.

Vinyl *is* porous. Think of a windbreaker or car cover. While they're repellent to liquid, they aren't impermeable.

Latex, however, is watertight. Hence why surgical gloves, condoms, etc. are made from Latex.

ABSOLUTELY.......THATS WHY LEATHER AND VINYL ARE CLOTHES AND CONDOMS ARE LATEX...

I think it's porous in the way that like germs & stuff can sink into it, or absorb into the plastic. But it's not porous enough that you can see liquid run through it. For example, have you ever put spaghetti sauce or tomato soup in a plastic tupperware container & then after you re-heat it & try to wash it you can't get those red stains out. That's b/c the plastic is porous & it is now stained. If you put it in a glass bowl, there wouldn't be any red stains, b/c glass is not porous. Hope that helps. : )

To be fair, every single substance in the world could be described as 'porous'. There are, in theory, spaces between the electrons and the nucleus of every atom, obviously these are far to small for particles to get through.

Vinyl is porous, but still offers protection. LATEX IS ALSO POROUS to some degree. This means miniscule particles may be able to pass through, but not viruses and bacteria (or sperm) which latex and vinyl are designed to protect against.

Vinyl is preferable to latex for use in disposable gloves as up to 10% of the population have some allergy to latex, and it is now defined as a 'substance hazardous to health' according to COSHH (control of substances hazardous to health) regulations. For this reason vinyl is preferable to latex as it does not contain natural rubber latex proteins which are the main allergen. My personal preference is for Nitrile gloves, these also do not contain harmful allergenic proteins.

Due to the prevalence in allergies, most ambulance services and first aid services (such as St John Ambulance) do not allow employees/members to use latex gloves.

In conclusion, vinyl IS porous, but not to harmful degree, and latex is also porous.

I do not think those vynal bed protectors and covers are a good idea full stop. They contribute to the cause of bed sores. If you sat on plastic think how your neither regions would cope with that. Why use it as a means of protection? well they can always use kylie blankets. I can't really answer, the reason is not valid for my liking, to my mind you don't put sick and elderly folk on such materials, their delicate skins cannot cope with this for too long, and they don't. Good question.