By Gaurav Logani, Founder – INMASK
Before I begin, I must emphasize that no matter which masks you wear, none can guarantee that they can protect you from COVID or any other airborne pathogens. There are multiple factors such as your work environment, hand hygiene, social distancing, etc. That said, masks do play an important role in protecting you, and those around you.
A clear recommendation would be 3M N95 1680 Sterile masks which are daily disposable and used by health care workers across the world. These masks are in short supply and should be used only by our brave medical workers who need the utmost safety. General public needs masks that protect them at work or at play and reduces the spread.
Here are the features I look for in a mask:
• Comfort – Can I wear it all day? Studies have shown that well-worn cloth masks with only 50% effectiveness when worn by 2 people, reduce the spread of airborne microbes by 75%. It’s important that we are able to wear a mask without having to lower it from our noses.
• Safety – This should be the most important factor but unfortunately the safest masks are very difficult to wear all day. Hence, well-worn mask with 80-90% filtration efficiency as when 2 people will wear it, it will reduce spread by 94-98%
• Sustainability – COVID cannot become a reason for us to fill the world with biohazard wastes that further damage our already delicate ecosystem. We should be able to re-use our masks for months. This will drastically reduce the negative environmental impact.
A lot of people feel 3 layered masks are what one should wear. It does not matter if a mask is 3 layered or not. How effective each layer is in filtering the microbes is what matters. A two-layer mask made of densely woven cotton will give superior protection than a mask made of 3 mesh fabric layers.
Do not waste your money on these 7-8-layer masks that are made of melt-blown layers stitched inside them. These typical “safe masks” that are available in the market are made “safe” by using melt-blown layers used in disposable masks. These melt-blown layers are neither reusable and certainly not washable. To get around this problem, mask makers started covering each of these melt-blown layers with water repellent layers, thus rendering them un-breathable. If you will use a mask with filters, please ensure they are replaceable and not sewn in.
INMASK with its strategic partnership with leading American and European manufacturers have come up with a unique solution that achieves incredible Filtration Efficiency of over 99% with just three layers, and that too, without using melt-blown layers. It is washable over 50 times. The patent-pending INMASK Saviors a unique product, proudly made in India.
