Surgical Face Mask and its typesAccording to the Surgical Face Mask manufacturer, a surgical face mask has two types i.e.N95 surgical mask and ordinary surgical mask. There are three kinds of face masks; ear loop, tie-on, and headband which are used to secure the masks. An earloop surgical mask has an elastic string attached to it which can be placed behind the ears. This one is readily available in the market and very easy to wear. Face Mask manufacturing company in India also offers tie-on face masks which have a non-woven strap and will easily hug your face without providing any discomfort to your ears. The third one is a headband mask that has an elastic strap behind the head to give you maximum comfort and security.As the pandemic continues to spread wings masks have become mandatory and vital to fight the virus. The costs have become an issue and so is the environment. This has led to the increased use of cloth masks rather than disposable ones. As a matter of fact, we are seeing an increase in the levels of water pollution due to disposable plastic masks.
We can go for a reusable cloth mask but most people do prefer using a surgical mask as it is much cheaper and lighter. The World Health Organization says “Medical masks are for single use only,” and it is best to discard the mask in a closed bin immediately after use.
“The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advise healthcare workers to use hydrogen peroxide vapour to decontaminate the N95 masks in emergency circumstances”.
According to Denis Corpet, French microbiologist and member of Adios Corona, these approaches are troublesome for people in a household atmosphere.
Method of Seven-days
Adios Coronaknows enough about the coronavirus and the epidemic and give tips on to neither be not infected nor transmit it to others. You can find scientific advice, recommendations and opinions about the coronavirus. This is a group of scientists who provide information on Covid-19 to the public and they recommend placing the mask in a paper or cloth envelope, putting a date of last used on it and then leaving it untouched for the next seven days.
But do ensure that your mask is manufactured by a reputed Surgical Face Mask Manufacturer.
As explained by Corpet, there are several studies showing that the virus is almost dead on a mask after 7 days. One study printed in The Lancet found that merely 0.1% of the virus is detectable on the outside surface of the mask after 1 week.
However, this method is not suitable for healthcare workers who are exposed to high levels of virus. The inventor of N95 electrostatically charged filter material, Peter Tsai, approve of the seven-day method. He also adds to leave the used mask out in open for 7days before reuse; this cycle has to be repeated about about5to 10 times.
You can also keep them in the oven, temperature ideally set from 70 to 75 degree Celsius, according to an interview of Tsai by AFP. It must not burn the plastic but will be sufficient to kill the virus.
Now if you are thinking of washing it in the machine, then hold on! According to Tsai washing it without the detergent may not destroy the virus and using a detergent will affect the electrostatic charges in the N95 mask. UFC-Que Choisir which is a French consumers’ rights group washed the masks at 60 degrees Celsius. After that, they put them in the dryer and then ironed them. It was found that after ten such repetitions, at least 90 per cent of 3-micron particles of coronavirus. UFC-Que Choisir reported that“Apart from a slight felting, the washed surgical masks were at least as efficient as the best cloth masks”.
Researcher Philippe Vroman concluded that after the fifth wash the mask becomes similar to 3 microns. It is also suggested to swap mask after every four hours and wash them properly instead of wearing them for many days.
But not all scientists agree with this idea.
Kaiming Ye, Head of the biomedical engineering department at New York’s Binghamton University said that washing masks at home could potentially cause secondary level contaminations and can further spread the virus.
Until any other research is published on this subject, official advice by the health authorities is the same; A Single-use surgical mask should be thrown away properly after use.
Medsicher is a leading Face Mask manufacturing company in India and we aim to provide premium quality face mask at an affordable range.