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Will painting respirators protect one from the COVID-19 virus?
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jfiresto:
I am not sure why some are piling on reusable respirators. The medical community is currently considering the issues, standards and procedures for their use, as they have some distinct advantages over disposable face masks, and some challenges.

The report "Reusable Elastomeric Respirators in Health Care – Considerations for Routine and Surge Use" reviews where things stood as of 2017/2019.

--- Quote ---... During a public health emergency, challenges will arise concerning the availability of respiratory protective devices (i.e., respirators). In response to respirator shortages during the 2009 influenza pandemic, the Strategic National Stockpile distributed more than 85.1 million disposable filtering facepiece respirators (sometimes referred to as N95s), which was in addition to the inventory that hospitals and other health care facilities already had in stock or had acquired through normal supply chains. Reusable respirators (specifically, reusable half-facepiece elastomeric respirators) are the standard respiratory protection device used in many industries, and they provide an option for use in health care that has to date not been fully explored. The durability and reusability of elastomeric respirators make them desirable for stockpiling for emergencies, where the need for large volumes of respirators can be anticipated.

In 2017 the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory and the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conduct a study on the use of half-facepiece reusable elastomeric respirators in health care, which resulted in this report. The National Academies appointed a 16-member committee that was tasked with exploring the potential for the use of elastomeric respirators in the U.S. health care system with a focus on the economic, policy, and implementation challenges and opportunities.
--- End quote ---

Chapter 4, Research and Development, reviews their cleaning and disinfection.
beanflying:
To selectively quote a report on a proposal in support of their use isn't being fair to the reality. There is good reasons not to use them unless you can clean them properly and sanitize them. The typical home user isn't going to be geared up for the cleaning steps so disposable will remain the sensible non medical use alternate. The internal crevices and lips in my 3M mask for example would be very had to get to without full immersion or appropriate heat sanitization which will likely have other issues with some of the plastic parts.

What a fully staffed and well set up hospital does is really outside the scope for individuals.


--- Quote ---The effects of training that are specific to elastomeric respirators have not been extensively evaluated. In the aforementioned study of elastomeric use in three hospitals in British Columbia, the researchers reported that

As [elastomeric respirators] are reusable, their use requires that cleaning, reprocessing, and equipment maintenance activities be conducted. Subsequently the education and training portion of fit testing sessions is more time-consuming, requiring an additional 10 to 15 minutes to complete. (Ciconte et al., 2013, p. 23)
--- End quote ---

VK3DRB:

--- Quote from: blueskull on March 20, 2020, 02:26:18 am ---The ones with a valve is for bitches. They only protect the wearer, not the others. Wearing a mask is for both protecting yourself and the mass, more on the latter.

--- End quote ---

The mask is acting like a unidirectional TVS diode in series with current limiting resistor, with leakage resistance across the entire circuit.
not1xor1:

--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on March 20, 2020, 05:33:36 pm ---Agreed... (the only point I'm weary of is as I said what happens after the mask has been exposed to some viral charge, how do you manage this? With a disposable mask, you just throw it away...)

--- End quote ---

you can clean the mask, with IPA, remove the filters and leave them in an IPA bath for few minutes (according to the tests 30 seconds are enough to kill the virus) and then let them dry overnight

the same can be done with disposable devices since they are difficult to find now and it is better to re-use them rather than going out without (I tested that on the last FPP3 mask I have from a stock I bought one year ago just for air pollution)

BTW in English those, FFP* are not called "mask"... may be respirator ... I can't remember the correct term now  :)

correction
the manufacturer usually provides proper instructions for cleaning, e.g. a solution of Sodium hypochlorite (3M)
it's better to just check the manufacturer site for that piece of information
Electro Detective:
Yet another corona IDIOT moment viewed 'LIVE' in action  :clap:  yesterday at Bunnings 
at the back of the Tool Shop where they keep the PPE stuff.

A 'person' (customer) was on the phone chatting with a similar sounding 'person' about what mask/respirators were available for corona

Think about it for a moment: the 'person' on the phone was in Bunnings, with a mixed assortment of people around,
with lots of airborne dust EVERYWHERE, as you get with an open door big box hardware store,

that 'person' had no mask on, yet buying for someone else, and to meet up and deliver it to them later

I mean seriously.. if there was something virus-ey floating about in the store, or entire suburb,
wtf did they achieve wasting time, petrol and a phone call,
to buy a mask for someone else in another location, and doing all that UNMASKED =   ::) +  :palm:


And no, I wasn't there to buy a silly mask for corona purposes, nor 'borrow' a loo roll from the Bunning's dunny  :-- 

Just a normal calm customer, popping in to see LED replacement globe options, grab a cutoff disc or two, drill bit etc
and a quick perv at the tools  8)


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