With mask shortages during the coronavirus outbreak, some doctors are sanitizing masks with alcohol so they can re-use them. But this raises questions about whether alcohol actually works and whether it degrades the masks.
Does Alcohol Kill Viruses?
The research on alcohol is clear. Alcohol kills viruses. Technically, viruses aren’t alive, so scientists focus on whether the virus is “deactivated” or no longer able to infect humans.
For example, a 2018 article summarized 17 studies where scientists put alcohol on people’s hands and measured the reduction in virus. Alcohol deactivated over 90% of viruses like the polio virus in most cases, depending on the dose and the particular virus.
However, in 23% of the trials, the alcohol deactivated less than 90% of the virus. Thus, alcohol does “kill” viruses, but not all of them all of the time.
Does Sanitizing Masks with Alcohol Degrade Masks?
But before doctors can start spraying masks with alcohol, we need to know whether the alcohol degrades the masks. Even a “successful” disinfection is useless if it harms the mask.
Fortunately, scientists have tested this question already. Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health tested N95 masks before and after dipping them in rubbing alcohol (isopropanol). Then they dried the masks overnight.
After the alcohol disinfection, the masks captured 37% less particulate on average.
Why This Mask Test Overstates The Effect
A 37% drop sounds big, but to be fair, this number exaggerates the overall harm. That’s because they tested the particle sizes that are the most likely to be affected by alcohol treatment.
The researchers tested particles from around 0.05 to 0.40 microns. For comparison, the coronavirus averages 0.125 microns. Of course, many particles in the air are larger than 0.4 microns, including some bacteria and even some viruses.
Why does this size range matter? This range around 0.3 microns is the hardest for masks to capture. This chart shows particle capture rates dipping around 0.3 microns. This chart is for HEPA filters, but masks follow the same pattern, with some small differences.
To boost performance in this critical size range, many masks use fibers that have a static charge. Dipping in alcohol removes this charge.
That’s bad news for particles in this size range, but it also means that alcohol does less harm for capturing particles outside this critical range. For example, when the researchers measured even smaller particles, they found out alcohol sterilization harmed performance by less than 5%.
Read more: Bouncing explains why it’s actually easier for masks to capture smaller particles.
Bottom Line:Sanitizing Masks with Alcohol
Alcohol deactivates viruses, but it significantly reduces filtration effectiveness, particularly for particles around 0.3 microns.
Better Options Than Sanitizing Masks With Alcohol
This finding is similar to results of washing masks with soap and water, which also harms performance. Instead, research is pointing to UV light and simply drying and waiting as better options for disinfecting masks.
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Thank you for this great article. I wonder if using an air purifier in a room where one sprays alcohol to disinfect groceries or packages will also affect the performance of the HEPA filter of the air purifier. Can you please share your thoughts? In my experience, it seems that my air purifier does not help clear the alcohol smell and I wonder if having the alcohol VOCs run through the air purifier may even worsen its performance similar to what you found here with masks. Thank you.