Wearing N95 masks is one way to avoid infection with the Omicron variant of COVID, which has already been shown to be highly contagious. They are for medical use, so they can be very efficient in protecting someone who is not a health professional, but they are more expensive and are marked for single use. So how long can an N95 mask be worn and how do I disinfect it if I’m not a doctor?
Experts agree that N95 masks are intended for single use according to their manufacturers because they are typically used in medical settings where the presence of pathogens is profuse, but a person who does not use it in hospital environments can give it more than one use. By the way, here are some tips to spot fake N95 and KN95 masks.
The professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, Linsey Marr, told CNN that the material and filtration levels of an N95 mask don’t degrade unless you rub it or pierce it. ”You would have to be in very polluted air for several days before it lost its ability to filter out particles. So you can really wear it for a long time,” Marr explained. to publication. He added that it can be calculated for a use of 40 hours and that it is easier for it to get dirty or its straps to loosen before it loses its filtering capacity.
Healthcare workers change their N95 masks more frequently for many reasons, including to avoid cross-contamination when moving from a room where an infectious patient is to one where one is not. But in non-medical settings the N95 is a good protection tool against COVID-19.
How to reuse it and how to disinfect it
Specialists point out that the best way to preserve the filtering capacity of N95 masks is to avoid touching the front part at all times, and always hold them by the straps. Another factor to take into account is that if it is known that it was used on a person with the virus, it is better to discard it, since the mask has surely trapped the virus and is found between the fibers.
Likewise, if it is mistreated, visibly dirty, if it is wrinkled, bent or damp, it must be changed. The same when it is more difficult to breathe with it, because its breathability decreases over time.
To disinfect N95s, it is recommended never to wash them, as the water neutralizes their static charge to filter out viruses. The trapped particles usually die after a few hours, but exposing the mask to the sun for a few hours will help disinfect them.
Read more:
+ COVID: How long can you continue to spread the virus if you got sick
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+ COVID: The symptoms of Omicron that you may not have noticed
+ One inch shorter: The surprising effect of COVID on a man’s genitals
eldiariony.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.