I’m starting to see a few of what are purported to be real N95 masks on eBay for prices that range from “vastly inflated” to “I’d rather get coronavirus than pay that”. I’m guessing eBay is nuking any listings that say “N95” so you do need to do searches with model numbers.
What makes these disposable anyway? It it instantly no good for blocking coronavirus if you take it off after wearing it 5 minutes, or is there a certain lifespan in hours, but they just say “use once” rather than “use x hours” in order to sell more masks?
I have done research work in labs before where respirators were mandatory. They also need to be “fitted “ to you.
No matter how good the mask is, if there is a slight gap between the mask and your skin (at the peripheries) unfiltered air will get through. Unless you get it fitted. Plus IIRC N95 masks need to be disposed after each use.
I don’t have an online cite, just on-going emails from administration at the hospital I work at talking about the shortage. Despite requiring all staff to wear masks all the time they have stopped supplying staff in non-patient care areas with masks (staff are expected to wear cloth masks they purchase themselves). They claim to have barely enough to provide masks for patients and staff providing patient care.
The hospital I work at very rarely uses the N-95 and then only staff use them. Almost everyone uses surgical ear loop masks. When working with an infectious patient they wear a full face-shield (with ear loop mask underneath) and possibly a suit.
I also have seen the masks for sale on Amazon and I don’t have an explanation. Perhaps they are of a different grade not allowed for use in medical facilities?
Same thing here–grocery stores have the ‘surgical’ disposable masks in packs of 10 for $10. They looked a bit sketchy to me so I decided to rely on Amazon (given that they will at least do some intervention on sellers who are plainly violating rules on false advertising, etc.).
That is quite possible (my emphasis in the quote). So far as I can see all the Amazon sellers have disclaimers about the masks not being medical-grade, not guaranteed to prevent virus-sized particles from entering, etc.
Personally I just need to be able to follow the requirement to wear a face-covering, and also prevent heat-stroke. Of course I’d also like to be sure of protection from viruses, but apparently we’ll all have to wait for that.
Again, it seems that a more effective federal response could have made it possible for all–medical personnel plus everyone else–to have fully-functional protective masks and other equipment, in plenty and for reasonable cost. But we don’t have that.
N-95 masks are the ones in short supply, and those are the effective ones. The surgical-type masks with the earloops that you’re now seeing everywhere have big gaps on the sides and aren’t even close to being airtight. The lab I work for hasn’t been able to get N-95’s for a long time; they’re all still on CV-19 allocation.
Slightly off topic but this is the best thread to put it in… I bought some of the non-N95 disposable masks at a warehouse store and discovered by accident that they are washable. Not sure how many times you can do it but it looked brand new when it came out of the dryer. I thought I had thrown it away.
Menard’s is currently offering “non-medical” masks that they describe as being “labeled” N95. After tax and delivery fees, they cost about $30 for a box of 10.
I received my order today and was mostly disappointed. The straps go around the ears, but have little spring loaded clips that (I presume) are supposed to improve the fit. They don’t really improve the fit.
The durability seems better than the disposable masks that come 50 to a box. But the quality is way below the 3M N95 masks that Home Depot carried before the pandemic. The 3M masks would hold up for 30 or 40 hours, and had a strong seal against the face. These seem like 8 - 16 hour masks, and leak in various places.
Care needs to be taken when washing masks. Even though they may come out looking fine, their filtering performance may be affected by the washing process. If the mask uses something like melt blown fabric, washing the mask may degrade the static charge of the fabric which captures the particles. I think the same is true if alcohol is used to sanitize the mask. Masks made with regular fabric are typically washable and won’t lose performance (although their filtering performance is lower than N95 anyway). So unless you have a mask made from fabric which can be washed, it’s probably best not to wash the mask.