{"id":8722,"date":"2019-10-26T22:52:20","date_gmt":"2019-10-26T14:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/?p=8722"},"modified":"2022-07-27T13:37:24","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T05:37:24","slug":"kids-air-pollution-masks-work-effective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/blog\/kids-air-pollution-masks-work-effective\/","title":{"rendered":"How Effective Are Kid’s Masks at Filtering Air Pollution?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As cities like Delhi, Beijing and Manila face toxic levels of air pollution, people are rushing to find effective pollution masks, particularly kid’s masks.<\/p>\n

\"Kid's<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a problem. Children\u2019s faces are different from adults\u2019. Add to that, children are constantly growing, meaning that the mask that fit last year might not fit this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kid\u2019s Mask Fit Test<\/h2>\n

To help worried parents, we ran open-source fit tests of with two children in Mumbai. We tested the small size of the Honeywell H950V mask, which is designed for kids.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Honeywell<\/p>\n

Two young volunteers helped test the kid’s masks: Pallavi (8 years old) and Vijay (10 years old). <\/span><\/p>\n

\"India<\/p>\n

How the kid’s mask fit test works<\/h3>\n

We know that masks are highly effective at capturing PM2.5 particles, even down to .007 microns<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PM2.5<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But showing that masks filter particles isn\u2019t enough. We need to know whether they work when children are actually wearing them. This is a pressing question because most masks are made (and tested<\/a><\/span>) on adults, who have larger faces. <\/span><\/p>\n

The fit test measures effectiveness while a real person is wearing the mask by using the white tube to sample air inside<\/strong> the mask. Meanwhile, the blue tube is sampling air just outside <\/strong>the mask.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mask<\/p>\n

The TSI PortaCount detects particles down to .01 microns\u2014far smaller than the oft-mentioned 2.5 microns<\/a>. Then the machine uses this to estimate the percentage of particles going through the mask (as opposed to leaking in around the sides).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"TSI<\/p>\n

Results<\/h3>\n

Effectiveness varied 40% between the two children. This suggests that it\u2019s important to find the best-fitting mask for each child.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"India<\/p>\n

In our adult tests<\/a><\/span>, pollution masks averaged 95.4% fit effectiveness. Fit effectiveness was lower on both children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Help fitting the kid’s masks<\/h3>\n

To test whether instructing the children carefully on how to put on the mask, we ran each test again after giving each child careful help fitting the mask. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Children's<\/p>\n

After careful fitting, Vijay\u2019s fit score increased to 94%. However, Pallavi\u2019s score remained at 50%. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Improve<\/p>\n

Thus, careful fitting seemed to help only a little bit. The low score for Pallavi may mean she needs a smaller mask.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bottom Line<\/div>
Bottom Line: How Effective Are Kid's Masks?<\/div>
<\/p>\n

Compared to wearing no mask, both children breathed significantly less pollution with the Honeywell mask. However, the 40% variation in effectiveness suggests it is worthwhile to try several masks to find a model that fits your child. <\/span><\/div>

Smart Air<\/div><\/div>\n

Help your child do a kid’s mask fit test<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t have access to a $10,000 TSI mask fit-testing machine? You can follow the simple steps of a poor man\u2019s fit test for free<\/a> with your child. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Air<\/p>\n

Three More Things You Should Know About Masks<\/h3>\n

We have more data! Read more about the results of:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Open-data fit tests of 18 masks <\/span><\/a>available in India. <\/span><\/li>\n
  2. How long do masks last? Just one day? We ran a longevity test of new masks <\/a><\/span>versus masks that have been used for several weeks. <\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Do masks capture really tiny particles? Is there any documented evidence that masks have real health benefits? Here\u2019s what the empirical data on masks<\/a><\/span> says.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    WHAT NEXT?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Along with wearing masks, air purifiers with HEPA filters are also one of the best ways to stay safe from a variety of pollutants in our air including viruses and dangerous PM2.5. A recent CDC study confirmed significantly lower COVID-19 infection rates in schools<\/a> that used HEPA air purifiers. HEPA filters can significantly lower the risk of a variety of deadly diseases<\/strong> including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and high blood pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Read More: Four Steps to Choosing the Best Air Purifier<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Smart Air is a certified B Corp committed to combating the myths big companies use to inflate the price of clean air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Experience breathing truly clean air<\/strong> with gimmick-free, effective air purifiers that won’t break the bank. Join the clean air movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Sqair<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
    \n\nCheck out the Sqair!<\/a>\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As cities like Delhi, Beijing and Manila face toxic levels of air pollution, people are rushing to find effective pollution masks, particularly kid’s masks. But there\u2019s a problem. Children\u2019s faces are different from adults\u2019. Add to that, children are constantly growing, meaning that the mask that fit last year might … <\/p>\n

    Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1035,"featured_media":8873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,259,187],"tags":[272,269,439,330],"class_list":["post-8722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-pollution","category-filters","category-masks","tag-air-pollution","tag-india","tag-kids","tag-mask","resize-featured-image"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1035"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8722"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23200,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8722\/revisions\/23200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}