[MTShawn]

An excellent resource that is well worth reading for those with mask/ respirator questions.
Please read.

https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/409903O/respiratory-protection-against-biohazards.pdf

 

[allye]

Great read!

One thing it didn't go into and that I've seen people express concern about is masks with exhalation valves. Some seem to worry that the valve negates the protection of the mask. This is not true; if so, the mask would no longer merit its rating.

What is true is that the exhalation valve masks are not to be worn by infected people as a means to limit the spread of infection. The ratings are for inhalation only. If an infected person wears a mask with an exhalation valve, the exhalations are not filtered and the bug is breathed out.

From the CDC:

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/factsheets/respsars.html

The valve opens to release exhaled breath and closes during inhalation so that inhaled air comes through the filter. Health care workers may wear respirators with exhalation valves unless the patient has a medical condition (such as an open wound) for which a health care worker would normally wear a surgical mask to protect the patient. Similarly, respirators with exhalation valves should not be placed on a patient to contain droplets and prevent spread of infectious particles​

 

[GrizzlyetteAdams]

The Center for Disease Control (CDC)
PANDEMIC PLANNING - 2019 Novel Coronavirus

Recommended Guidance for Extended Use and Limited Reuse of N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators in Healthcare Settings


https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/hcwcontrols/recommendedguidanceextuse.html

 

[BJJ_Grappler]

A chart from 3M

https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/40744O/3m-respirator-cartridge-and-filter-selection-poster.pdf

 

[NHCraigT]

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company...1017+8711405+8720539+8720550+3294857497&rt=r3

 

[neiowa]

Scott filter equipment (for use with any vintage SCBA facepiece)
P100 level filtering (with eye protection)
https://www.3mscott.com/product_categories/cartridges-and-canisters/

Scott PAPR (for use with any vintage SCBA facepiece) - Positive pressure in the facepiece. Battery powered uses NATO 40mm filters.
https://www.3mscott.com/product_categories/powered-air-respirators/

Any SCBA facepiece user should have a quantitative fit test. Best seal is a 2010 or new as much improved seal design (Sureseal). Used serviceable SCBA facepieces are not expensive as many FD have updated to "High Temp" facepieces in the last few years.

 

[Justme11]

Scott filter equipment (for use with any vintage SCBA facepiece)
P100 level filtering (with eye protection)
https://www.3mscott.com/product_categories/cartridges-and-canisters/

Scott PAPR (for use with any vintage SCBA facepiece) - Positive pressure in the facepiece. Battery powered uses NATO 40mm filters.
https://www.3mscott.com/product_categories/powered-air-respirators/

Any SCBA facepiece user should have a quantitative fit test. Best seal is a 2010 or new as much improved seal design (Sureseal). Used serviceable SCBA facepieces are not expensive as many FD have updated to "High Temp" facepieces in the last few years.

Interesting! 3m Bought Scott a couple years ago. Didn't know that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3M_Scott_Fire_&_Safety

 

[Steverino]

for those with respiratory issues, a PAPR is the way to go....

 

[leadcounsel]

Any mask covering will help, to some extent, in 3 ways.

1. Give some variable protection for a sick person to not cough and spread virus all over. Some % will be stopped by the face covering, depending on quality.

2. Give some amount of protection for a healthy person to not get particles in nose and mouth from the air or infected droplets; that level of protection will obviously depend on circumstances and quality of mask.

3. Masks stop sick and well people from touching their nose and mouth, and prevent touch-spreading the disease to self or others.

 

[leadcounsel]

My concern is why the health care field is so woefully unprepared for a viral outbreak.

There should be warehouses full of masks. They were cheap and widely available. Why is healthcare so unprepared for an obvious needed product?

And, bigger picture, if they don't have $1 masks stocked up, are we really to believe our healthcare system is going to avoid being totally swamped for the million pneumonia patients needing ICU and quarantine for 2 weeks, next month?

 

[boubou]

My concern is why the health care field is so woefully unprepared for a viral outbreak.

There should be warehouses full of masks. They were cheap and widely available. Why is healthcare so unprepared for an obvious needed product?

And, bigger picture, if they don't have $1 masks stocked up, are we really to believe our healthcare system is going to avoid being totally swamped for the million pneumonia patients needing ICU and quarantine for 2 weeks, next month?

Agreed!
This is concerning. Since Sars, they should have been prepared but seems leadership is lacking. People go about thinking "not going to happen to me" or making light of this until hell breaks loose then it's panic, including from our own government, scrambling for basics like masks.

 

[Steverino]

Healthcare is effectively capacity planning... so hospitals have very little elasticity when it comes to a sudden demand for their services...

IMO, we should already have a couple of facilities on both sides of the Rockies to quarantine the sick.

 

[wolf_1611]

excellent write-up by a nurse on which masks work 4 covid19

There's a lot of noise out there about masks....and I get it, but this one of the first writeups ive seen on the topic that actually makes sense and gets to the point

http://emag.medicalexpo.com/which-masks-actually-protect-against-coronavirus/

:quote:
"A contagious patient should wear a surgical mask as soon as contagion is suspected.

In Europe, for caregivers, it is necessary to wear a respirator of at least class FFP2 or FFP3 for maximum filtration of particles and aerosols when caring for a patient who is infected or suspected of being so.

In the United States, the N95 respirator filters 95% of airborne particles, and can even filter out bacteria and viruses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So for caregivers, it is necessary to wear a respirator of class N, R or P."
:quote:

In addition here is a recent study I dug up on the effectiveness on n95/p100 masks with viruses. some pretty technical stuff in there but interesting.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15459624.2013.818228

:quote:
"Viral aerosols typically do not exist as single airborne viruses, instead they form agglomerates that typically are larger than the MPPS of the filter.( 3 , 4 , 6 ) In the controlled laboratory conditions of this study, the resulting MS2 virus MMAD was approximately 500 nm. As a result, the viruses did not penetrate the filters to the extent of aerosols in the MPPS range (typically 40 to 50 nm for N95 filters). Thus, the N95 and P100 FFRs/cartridges tested in this study met or exceeded their efficiency criteria (95 and 99.97%, respectively) against the viable MS2 aerosol challenge even under very high flow breathing conditions."
:quote:

50%

the filters on respirators don't seem to last long based on some factors...better make the most of what you got, if you got it. 2c

 

[Steverino]

Remember.... N95 masks are effective for particles larger and smaller than COVID-19 (0.12 microns) with a minimum effectiveness of 95%

https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/409903O/respiratory-protection-against-biohazards.pdf

 

[Freja]

On February 9th 2020, Fudan University Shanghai Medical College, Ministry of Education / Medical Molecular Virology Laboratory of Health Committee and School of Public Health together published a scientific research paper "Experimental research on safe and rapid regeneration of disposable medical masks". It was published in the Journal of Microbiology and Infection online version. The research paper confirmed that disposable medical masks could be disinfected by using following method: After using the mask, it can be wrapped with household fresh-keeping bags and treated with household electric hair dryer for 30 minutes. After that it can be used again. This method doesn’t affect masks original filter retention effect, and the contaminated viruses are inactivated!

 

[Steverino]

Link?

I googled "temp required to kill a flu virus".... and I got back 121C (121 °Celsius = 249.8 °Fahrenheit)

I googled "What is the average temperature of a hairdryer?".... and I got back 130 to 150 °Fahrenheit


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Freja]

My daughter is a nurse at Kaiser in Ca. There are no masks for nurses only Dr.’s and they are kept under lock and key.

They don’t even have the cheap ones. Where did they all go? What were they thinking?

Kaiser has been put under “lockdown” this morning. It is unfortunate that the news doesn’t keep the public updated so that we may better protect ourselves.

 

[Justme11]

Link?

I googled "temp required to kill a flu virus".... and I got back 121C (121 °Celsius = 249.8 °Fahrenheit)

I googled "What is the average temperature of a hairdryer?".... and I got back 130 to 150 °Fahrenheit


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2828525

"The efficacy of two heating cycles (90 sec at 103 degrees C and 10 hr at 65 degrees C (149 deg F)) used during manufacture of a plasma-derived hepatitis-B vaccine was validated for the inactivation of 12 virus families. A period of 15 min warming up to 65 degrees C had already completely inactivated representatives of nine virus families, ie, poxvirus (vaccinia), picornavirus (encephalomyocarditis virus), togavirus (sindbis virus), coronavirus (mouse hepatitis virus), orthomyxovirus (influenza virus), rhabdovirus (vesicular stomatitis virus), herpes virus (cytomegalovirus), lentivirus (human immunodeficiency virus), and retrovirus (murine leukemia virus).

After prolonged heating at 65 degrees C or heating for 90 sec at 103 degrees C, parvovirus (canine parvovirus) and the phage phiX174 were also completely inactivated. Papovavirus represented by simian virus 40 (SV-40) was the most heat-resistant virus evaluated. "

 

[ScottsBad]

Very useful information. Also, ^ the post above is quite helpful.

BTW - 103 C is 217.4 F

Thank you

 

[nextup]

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/sci...vel-twice-far-official-safe-distance-and-stay

Not sure if anyone follows SCMP but this was just on their website

you should've added the article head line... most people will just gloss over links posted without that..

"Coronavirus can travel twice as far as official ‘safe distance’ and stay in air for 30 minutes, Chinese study finds"

key takeaways from those infected on the bus...

" Covid-19 can linger in the air for at least 30 minutes and travel up to 4.5 metres – further than the “safe distance” advised by health authorities around the world"

"The scientists warned that the coronavirus could survive more than five days in human faeces or bodily fluids."

"one patient, who was not wearing a mask, was likely to have inhaled aerosols, or tiny particles, breathed out by the infected passengers from the previous group."

"Our advice is to wear a face mask all the way [through the bus ride],” they added.

Im not trying to stir up a fight. But mayor bill de blasio was just on CNN saying the virus dos not hang in the air and dies very quick on surfaces. I was under the impression it lasted days on surfaces. Now Im a bit confused.

there are links to article's further back in the thread where it's been reported that this virus can live on surfaces up to 9 day's, as far as how long it can remain airborne? here are a few articles on that and also how far a sneeze or cough travel and remain suspended..

Studying the Science of 100 Sneezes << from MIT...

https://alum.mit.edu/slice/studying-science-100-sneezes

In the cloud: How coughs and sneezes float farther than you think
Novel study uncovers the way coughs and sneezes stay airborne for long distances. << and another from MIT...

http://news.mit.edu/2014/coughs-and-sneezes-float-fart

Here’s How Fast and Far a Sneeze Can Carry Contagious Germs. << Health Line...

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/heres-how-far-and-how-fast-a-sneeze-carries-contagious-germs


How far do coughs and sneezes travel? << Science Focus...
Coughs and sneezes spread diseases, and you’ll definitely want to cover your mouth after reading this.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/how-far-do-coughs-and-sneezes-travel/


take away from the combined article's, droplets from a cough or sneeze can travel 16 to 26 feet and close to 100 mph, the smaller droplets can remain suspended in the air up to 10 or so mins in a gaseous cloud and can get sucked into a ventilation system and redistributed into other rooms or get spread out further in a larger room depending how many vent's are in that room..

also, in other report's, the virus has been found in feces, and there's a chance of possible infection from flushing the toilet with the lid up, from a few studies flushing the toilet can cause a virus or bacteria to be expelled in a gaseous form 2.5 to 3 feet in the air and up to 10 feet away from said toilet.. which can contaminate counter tops and possible door handle's in a bathroom...

^^^ moved these over from the mega thread so the info doesn't get buried..