Comparative Performance Testing of Respirator versus Surgical Mask Using a Water Droplet Spray Model.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
; 18(4)2021 02 08.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1079658
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, there was shortage of the standard respiratory protective equipment (RPE). The aim of this study was to develop a procedure to test the performance of alternative RPEs used in the care of COVID-19 patients.METHODS:
A laboratory-based test was developed to compare RPEs by total inward leakage (TIL). We used a crossflow nebulizer to produce a jet spray of 1-100 µm water droplets with a fluorescent marker. The RPEs were placed on a dummy head and sprayed at distances of 30 and 60 cm. The outcome was determined as the recovery of the fluorescent marker on a membrane filter placed on the mouth of the dummy head.RESULTS:
At 30 cm, a type IIR surgical mask gave a 17.7% lower TIL compared with an FFP2 respirator. At 60 cm, this difference was similar, with a 21.7% lower TIL for the surgical mask compared to the respirator. When adding a face shield, the TIL at 30 cm was further reduced by 9.5% for the respirator and 16.6% in the case of the surgical mask.CONCLUSIONS:
A safe, fast and very sensitive test method was developed to assess the effectiveness of RPE by comparison under controlled conditions.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Respiratory Protective Devices
/
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
/
Personal Protective Equipment
/
COVID-19
/
Masks
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijerph18041599
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