Unmasking N95 for COVID-19 health-care workers in India.

A general term N95 Mask has been widely used by all including the health care personnel. It has been use incorrectly by all and it should be replaced with the term filtering facepiece respirator. There are two types of respirators being used in the world. One is the industrial type whereas the other one is the medical surgical one. The medical surgical masks are an intermediate product between the industrial and the triple layer medical mask. Many other equivalent products like KN95 masks are also available in the market. There is an urgent need of certification because this is the only way quality face masks can be provided to the public in these difficult times of COVID-19. This is essential because of the entry of many counterfeit and uncertified respirators have entered the market.

Novel approach to deployment of crisis situation supply of N95 respirator models in a healthcare system.

Given supply constraints of N95s in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare facilities have turned to extended use protocols and new sources of N95s. Because fit testing every employee for every new mask is not feasible, our Infection Prevention Department developed a method for rapid deployment of new N95s.