Dataset Information

Evaluation and discussion of handmade face-masks and commercial diving-equipment as personal protection in pandemic scenarios.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Pandemic scenarios like the current Corona outbreak show the vulnerability of both globalized markets and just-in-time production processes for urgent medical equipment. Even usually cheap personal protection equipment becomes excessively expensive or is not deliverable at all. To avoid dangerous situations especially to medical professionals, but also to affected patients, 3D-printer and maker-communities have teamed up to develop and print shields, masks and adapters to help the medical personnel. In this study, we investigate three home-made respiratory masks for filter and protection efficacy and discuss the results and legal aspects.

Materials and methods

A home-printed respiratory mask with a commercial filter, a scuba-diving mask with a commercial filter and a mask sewn from a vacuum cleaner bag were investigated with 99mTc-labeled NaCl-aerosol, and the respective filter-efficacy was measured under a scintigraphic camera.

Results

The sewn mask from a vacuum cleaner bag had a filter efficacy of 69.76%, the 3D-printed mask of 39.27% and the scuba-diving mask of 85.07%.

Conclusion

Home-printed personal protection equipment can be a-yet less efficient-alternative against aerosol in case professional masks are not available, but legal aspects of their use and distribution have to be kept in mind in order to avoid compensation claims.

SUBMITTER: Gierthmuehlen M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7437915 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The World Health Organization has advocated mandatory face mask usage to combat the spread of COVID-19, with multilayer masks recommended for enhanced protection. However, this recommendation has not been widely adopted, with noncompliant persons citing discomfort during prolonged usage of face masks. And yet, a scientific understanding on how face mask fabrics/garment systems affect thermophysiological comfort remains lacking. We aimed to investigate how fabric/garment properties alter the thermal and evaporative resistances responsible for thermophysiological strain. We constructed 12 different layered facemasks (D1-D5, T1-T6, Q1) with various filters using commercially available fabrics. Three approaches were employed: (1) the evaporative and thermal resistances were measured in all the test face masks using the medium size to determine the effect of fabric properties; (2) the effect of face mask size by testing close-fitted (small), fitted (medium) and loose fitted (large) face mask T-6; (3) the effect of face mask fit by donning a large size face mask T-6, both loose and tightened using thermal manikin, Newton. ANOVA test revealed that the additional N95 middle layer filter has no significant effect on the thermal resistances of all the face masks, and evaporative resistances except for face masks T-2 and T-3 (P-values<0.05) whereas size significantly affected thermal and evaporative resistances (P-values<0.05). The correlation coefficient between the air gap size and the thermal and evaporative resistance of face masks T-6 were R2 = 0.96 and 0.98, respectively. The tight fit large face mask had superior performance in the dissipation of heat and moisture from the skin (P-values <0.05). Three-layer masks incorporating filters and water-resistant and antimicrobial/antiviral finishes did not increase discomfort. Interestingly, using face masks with fitters improved user comfort, decreasing thermal and evaporative resistances in direct opposition to the preconceived notion that safer masks decrease comfort.