If you're wearing a homemade cloth mask, sterilizing it is pretty simple; you can just iron it. If you're wearing an expensive N95 or FFP2 mask, you may have noticed that the mask manufacturer’s fine print on the package always says that the mask is designed for single use only. Wow does that mean you can only wear your mask for one hour while you're on the bus and then you have to throw it away and get a new one？ And what about all those healthcare professionals who are going through tons and tons of masks every day? Is there any way that they can reuse them? The answer to the first question technically is yes, if you really want to be safe, you do have to throw away your mask and get a new one each time you take it off. And the answer to the second question is also yes; if a healthcare professional wants to be sure that the mask is not contaminated, they have to take it off and throw it away after each use. Every time you take your mask off or put it on, you risk contaminating it. Taking it off putting it on also stretches out the elastic straps meaning that the more often you take it off and put it on, the less and less well the mask fits, and that means it won't protect you as effectively. If there is virus caught on your mask, from that virus will still be there a few hours later when you want to put the mask back on again. But there's a pandemic going on and we all know that changing out your N 95 every couple of hours it's just not realistic; not for doctors, not for your average front-line worker and not for your average Joe on the street either. There just aren't enough masks in the universe.

So it's pretty well-established that the issue of re-wearing your mask during the pandemic is a real concern for all of the above reasons. Let's look at some ideas for how the average mask wearer who needs to wear their mask at work, on public transport, when shopping, etc. can solve the problem.

Carry a lot of masks. The virus doesn’t live forever. Have several masks on hand, wear one, put it in a Ziploc bag when you take it off and don’t wear it again that day. When you need to wear a mask again pull out bag number two with mask number two and wear that one. When you go home at night, put on your gloves and carefully take your masks out and spread them out in a clean area to dry out. Nobody has actually done research yet on how long the virus lives on each type of mask surface, but we do know the virus doesn't live longer than a couple of days, max. It means that your masks will be good to go again in a few days, but to be safe, a 7-day mask rotation is recommended if you are using this method.

Use your dryer. The American CDC has actually done research on the effects of reusing N95 masks out of necessity during the pandemic. They tested a lot of methods, like various chemical sprays, UV rays, ozone, and lots of things that just aren’t accessible at home, but they did also find that putting your masks in a tumble dryer for 60 minutes at 70°C, or in a convection oven for 30 min. at 75°C will sterilize the mask. There is a small loss of efficacy with each sterilization, but using this method should give you a lot more use out of your masks. You can view the CDC research results here. Note: According to the CDC, mask decontamination should only be performed on respirators without exhalation valves.

Use a mask that has replaceable filters. It's not easy to buy certified mask filters, there are a lot of fakes out there, but using replaceable filters instead of replacing your mask is certainly worth considering. When choosing a mask with a filter pocket, you want to make sure that the mask fits you well, and there is not excessive leakage. A silicone mask such as the SilkenN95 is a good example of a mask that will mold to your face and has easily replaceable and inexpensive filters. (WORLD) (USA) The design of this mask also allows the user to put the mask on and take it off with very low risk of contamination. The mask can be boiled in water for two minutes to sterilize it. Using cloth masks with filter pockets and nano filters like the S-Shield (WORLD ) (USA ) or R-shield are also a good option, but in choosing that type of mask it is important to make sure that the mask has a nose clip so that the mask will fit better on your face.

Disinfect your mask with a disinfectant spray. There is an EPA list of disinfectant sprays that have been proven to neutralize COVID-19, but they are mostly designed for hard, nonporous surfaces. They have not yet been tested on fabrics, and also not tested for health safety in terms of breathing into your lungs through the mask after spraying. Testing was done on immersing standard N95 mask material (meltblown) in ethanol 75% or bleach, but both of these significantly reduced efficacy of the N95 meltblown material. For this reason, there isn't really a spray we can recommend for this purpose. Have a look at the EPA website List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) for details. We at lungdragon.com will keep looking for a safe mask disinfectant spray for your N95 and keep you updated:-)

Read more: check out the related source links below, they are very informative and relatively accessible. 

The Center for Disease Control CDC
The National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL)
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
ACS Nano peer review study on N95 mask disinfection; Lei Liao, Wang Xiao, Mervin Zhao, Xuanze Yu, Haotian Wang, Qiqi Wang, Steven Chu, Yi Cui. Can N95 Respirators Be Reused after Disinfection?