Masks are effective protection from airborne pollutants such as PM2.5, viruses, bacteria and allergens. In general, there are 2 common types of masks: surgical masks and respirators like N95 and N99 masks. DIY face masks can be used when surgical masks and respirators are not available. Read more to learn if masks actually work, how long masks can be used and how to wash them.
KN95 masks are one of the most popular respiratory masks on the market for COVID-19 protection. The CDC states that authentic KN95 masks provide the highest protection against COVID-19. The issue is the CDC stated 60% of KN95 masks on the market do not actually pass KN95 standards. So how …
How long can you wear face masks? How often you should replace your surgical or N95 mask depends on who you ask. The WHO recommends changing surgical masks every 4 hours. If that’s true, that means a lot of masks and a lot of waste. To find out how long …
DIY cloth masks to protect against viruses sounds like a crazy idea. Data shows masks work incredibly well, and they’re also really cheap. Surgical masks cost a few pennies, and they’re capable of filtering out 80% of particles down to 0.007 microns (14 times smaller than COVID-19). However, the COVID-19 …
COVID-19 has caused a surge in interest for all types of masks, including Japanese Pitta masks. Smart Air has received a flood of questions about how well they filter COVID-19 and other viruses. The Japanese Pitta masks are sleek and incredibly popular, but there’s little information available on how well …
COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire again with the emergence of the Delta variant. Even after nearly two years and a vaccine, it is clear that vaccination alone is not enough for protection against the Delta variant. In this article, we share some important tips and knowledge for further protection against …
Since COVID-19 started, there has been confusion on how to correctly where a surgical mask. But does wearing surgical masks the wrong way round affect their ability to capture viruses? Some online sources claim it doesn’t matter, like this one. Surgical masks are made up of 3 layers, and there …
Wildfires create a serious amount of smoke and air pollution. Wildfire smoke can cause short and long-term health impacts. That’s why it’s important to know how to protect yourself from wildfire smoke. Wildfire smoke is a form of air pollution. It contains dangerous VOC gases and small particles (PM2.5) that …
Does a wet mask still work? If your mask is slightly wet, how does this wetness and humidity affect it’s performance? Fortunately, scientists have tested the effectiveness of wet masks. Researchers tested the performance of new and “wet” masks. They asked 22 people to wear either a DIY cloth mask, …
The director of the NIH Dr. Anthony Fauci has said it seems like common sense that wearing two masks is better than one. So we decided to test whether two layers of the same material is better than one layer. Note that there may be other benefits of wearing double …
Surgical masks have a lot of bad rep for filtering PM2.5. There’s a fantastic educational poster from Greenpeace that I’ve seen in several places: It offers great advice on masks that protect us from PM2.5, soot or wildfire smoke. But then it says this this about surgical masks: “No effect” …
