Annals of work exposures and health
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Ann Work Expo Health · May 2021
Comparison of Fit for Sealed and Loose-Fitting Surgical Masks and N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators.
N95 filtering facepiece respirators (N95 FFRs) and surgical masks are comprised of multiple layers of nonwoven polypropylene. Tight-fitting N95 FFRs are respiratory protective devices (RPDs) designed to efficiently filter aerosols. During the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers (HCWs) throughout the world continue to face shortages of disposable N95 FFRs. Existing version of widely available FDA cleared loose-fitting surgical masks with straps do not provide reliable protection against aerosols. We tested the faceseal of a modified strapless form-fitting sealed version of surgical mask using quantitative fit testing (QNFT) and compared the performance of this mask with that of N95 FFRs and unmodified loose-fitting surgical masks. ⋯ Widely available loose-fitting surgical masks can be easily modified to achieve faceseal with adhesives. Unlike loose-fitting surgical masks, sealed surgical masks can markedly reduce inward leakage of aerosols and may therefore offer useful levels of respiratory protection during an extreme shortage of N95 FFRs and could benefit HCWs who cannot comply with N95 FFRs due to intolerance. However, because a wide range of surgical masks is commercially available, individual evaluation of such masks is highly recommended before sealed versions are used as RPDs.