It must be of no surprise to anybody that we are currently in a serious health crisis. Termed COVID-19, the coronavirus has spread all through the globe, testing nearly each facet of each country from health to trade. As a concerned particular person, it’s possible you’ll consider shopping for some masks to maintain at house in case considered one of your loved ones members fall ill. Nevertheless, are masks and respirators really equal? Why are some masks more expensive than others? What must you search for in a masks? What are you able to do if a masks isn’t available? Let’s find out.
Masks vs Respirators
Before we dive into the meat of this Guide, it is important to know that Surgical Masks and Respirators are totally different types of protection. Respirators tend to be more costly than surgical masks as they’re often more hardy and do provide more protection. Nonetheless, is the additional protection really obligatory throughout this current disaster?
Surgical Masks
As its name suggest, surgical masks have been originally meant for use throughout a surgery. The use was to ensure that the room could be stored sterile, and that germs from a health care provider or nurse’s mouth or nostril would not contaminate the patient. Over the last few years, it has seen commonplace use especially in places like China.
These masks are sometimes also called three-ply masks as a result of their attribute of getting 3 layers of protection within the mask itself. The layers are sometimes a constant type of material depending on the manufacturer, although frequent ones embrace wool felt, fiberglass paper, or polypropylene. The multi-layered structure of the mask acts to filter out particles more effectively, just like how utilizing a number of sieves in succession is more effective than just using one sieve.
By a one-time use, the layers will start becoming dirty or clogged as they block out particles from both outside in and inside out. As there aren’t any option to safely clean out these layers at dwelling, it is highly recommended that these masks be disposed at the finish of its use.
One thing to remember is that not like respirators, masks aren’t hermetic and aren’t meant to be. Their foremost function is to stop direct splashes of particles in or out out of your mouth and nose. This is completely different from respirators, whose position is to filter the air you breathe.
Surgical Respirators
As briefly mentioned, the first role of a surgical respirator is to filter the air you breathe and is meant to be hermetic when used. In this Guide, we are going to focus on the more frequent single-use respirators instead of heavy-duty reusable ones.
These respirators come in different grades typically starting from N95 to N100. The numbers represent the proportion of particles that these respirators are speculated to filter. For instance, N95 respirators are speculated to filter out at least 95% of contaminants while N100 respirators are presupposed to filter out not less than 99.97% of contaminants when they are used properly.
These respirators have two key components that makes it different from a surgical mask:
The primary is the shell, which has three key layers, sometimes more. The outer layer is a protective material which acts as a barrier between you and the environment. In the center, the pre-filtration layer is thick and stiff to allow it to keep up a hard kind, which is something that the surgical masks do not have. The final layer focuses on filtration and in making certain that the air getting in from the atmosphere is filtered. Some types of mask have an added particular particulate air filters that will help you breathe easier.
One other key component is its nose clip, straps and foam. In contrast to a surgical masks, a respirator needs to make sure that all air going out and in goes by way of its filters. As such, these components are there to create an airtight seal between you and your environment. If you are utilizing a respirator, it’s thus imperative that you put it on properly. One method to inform when you have put on the respirator properly is that it ought to develop into slightly more troublesome to breathe as airflow velocity is reduced.
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