The pandemic has led to N95 masks quickly becoming one of the world’s most sought-after resources as essential workers burned through billions of them. New research could lead to an N95 that you can recharge rather than throw away — or even one that continuously tops itself up for maximum effectiveness.

The proposed system, from researchers at Technion-IIT in Israel and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India, is not one of decontamination, as you might expect. Instead, it focuses on another aspect of N95 masks that renders them less effective over time.

N95s use both mechanical filtering, in which particles are caught in a matrix of microscopic fibers, and electrostatic filtering, in which particles are attracted to surfaces that carry a static charge. It’s like the old trick where you rub a balloon on your head and it sticks — but at the scale of microns.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/14/n95-masks-could-soon-be-rechargeable-instead-of-disposable/

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Peter Tsai, who invented the filter material used in N95 masks, has emerged from retirement, saying he felt a “responsibility to help” amid a flurry of questions about how to use the technology.

Since coming out of retirement in March, Tsai has been at the forefront of developing new ways to sterilize the masks’ disposable respirators and increase production.

“I felt very stressed in the very beginning,” he told the Knoxville News Sentinel. “I got a lot of pressure and a lot of questions.”

Tsai was able to reach out to other researchers as well as interdisciplinary research group N95DECON, which tested several of his suggestions for how to sterilize the masks, eventually recommending some of his approaches.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/507487-taiwanese-immigrant-inventor-of-n95-mask-comes-out-of-retirement-to-fight

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A face mask may give the wearer more protection from the coronavirus than previously thought, according to a new study commissioned by the World Health Organization.

The updated study alters health experts’ previously held beliefs that a mask helped protect others from the virus more than the person wearing the mask.

“In view of inconsistent guidelines by various organizations based on limited information, our findings provide some clarification and have implications for multiple stakeholders,” the study’s authors wrote. “The risk for infection is highly dependent on distance to the individual infected and the type of face mask and eye protection worn.”

The World Health Organization’s meta-analysis looked at about 200 COVID-19 studies in 16 countries, involving more than 25,000 patients. This analysis was written by an international team led by McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, and published June 1 in the medical journal The Lancet.

The use of face masks — including N95 respirators and surgical masks — and face shields protect people against infection and also led to a “much lower risk of infection,” the study said.

https://www.cleveland.com/coronavirus/2020/06/masks-may-protect-the-wearer-from-the-coronavirus-more-than-originally-thought-new-research-suggests.html

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Ford Motor Co. announced Thursday that they have produced 10 million face shields for health care workers amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Ford workers have been volunteering to produce face shields since March 23 as frontline workers face shortages of protective equipment.

Officials say the company has shipped face shields to medical workers in all 50 states as of Thursday. Just a few weeks ago, Ford shipped one million shields to New York City -- the state hit hardest by COVID-19 in the U.S.

More than 350 UAW workers are producing the shields at a rate of 1 for every 10 seconds, officials said.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2020/04/30/ford-produces-10-million-face-shields-for-health-care-workers/

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University Hospital Southampton has become the first healthcare provider in the country to widely introduce a pioneering protective respirator hood for staff treating patients with coronavirus (COVID-19).

The equipment, designed by researchers at the University of Southampton and the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre in collaboration with clinicians at UHS, was developed into a prototype in just a week, tested on wards and manufactured at scale in less than a month.

Known as PeRSo, it consists of a fabric hood which covers the wearer's head and a plastic visor to protect their face.

It delivers clean air through a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter with belt-mounted fan pack, can be worn continuously for eight to nine hours and is reusable after appropriate cleaning.

https://www.uhs.nhs.uk/AboutTheTrust/Newsandpublications/Latestnews/2020/April/Hospital-trust-becomes-first-to-introduce-pioneering-respirator-hoods-for-staff-treating-coronavirus-patients.aspx

California Gov. Gavin Newsom left TV host Rachel Maddow stunned Tuesday night when he said on her show that he "inked a deal" for the state to buy 200 million masks a month.

Newsom explained the mask windfall is the result of a consortium of nonprofits and a California company that will be manufacturing mostly N95 masks overseas, and supplying the needs of California residents and workers, as well as possibly those in other Western states.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-200-masks-a-month-Newsom-Maddow-15185990.php

Tim Cook is back with another update on Apple’s ongoing efforts to help healthcare professionals amid the COVID-19 outbreak. In a new video posted to Twitter today, Cook said that Apple has now sourced over 20 million masks for healthcare workers, and it’s still pushing to do more.

Over a week ago, Cook said that had sourced and donated 10 million masks to healthcare professionals, and now that number has risen to 20 million. These masks are being sourced through Apple’s supply chain.

Perhaps most notably, however, Cook revealed that Apple has designed a custom face shields for medical workers as well. The first shipment of these face shields arrived at Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara Valley last week, and the response from medical workers has been incredible, according to Cook.

https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/05/tim-cook-face-shields-masks/

Defence firm Babcock has said it will be manufacturing 10,000 ventilators to help deal with the coronavirus crisis.

The plan comes nearly two weeks after Dyson said it had received a government order for 10,000 ventilators.

Both devices still have to pass stringent medical tests before they can be accepted.

The move came as tech giant Apple, best-known for phones and computers, said it would start making face shields for medical workers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52059084

Like other sportswear giants, Nike are doing their part to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with CEO John Donahoe stating the brand is working on developing face shields and medical equipment for healthcare workers.‘Companies like Nike need to do our part,’ Donahoe said during a Q3 conference call.

‘Based on needs identified by the teams and health professionals at Oregon Health & Science University [OHSU], our teammates are working right now about how to best help, including prototyping face shields of OHSU and others.’

https://www.sneakerfreaker.com/articles/nike-creating-medical-face-shields-and-equipment-for-healthcare-workers/

The shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) available to health care professionals has become increasingly problematic as Covid-19 cases continue to surge. The sheer volume of PPE needed to keep doctors, nurses, and their patients safe in this crisis is daunting — for example, tens of millions of disposable face shields will be needed nationwide each month. This week, a team from MIT launched mass manufacturing of a new technique to meet the high demand for disposable face shields.

The single piece face shield design will be made using a process known as die cutting. Machines will cut the design from thousands of flat sheets per hour. Once boxes of these flat sheets arrive at hospitals, health care professionals can quickly fold them into three-dimensional face shields before adjusting for their faces.

“These face shields have to be made rapidly and at low cost because they need to be disposable,” explains Martin Culpepper, professor of mechanical engineering, director of Project Manus, and a member of MIT’s governance team on manufacturing opportunities for Covid-19. “Our technique combines low-cost materials with a high-rate manufacturing that has the potential of meeting the need for face shields nationwide.”

http://news.mit.edu/2020/face-shield-ppe-manufacture-covid-19-0331