{"id":468,"date":"2018-12-13T17:00:42","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T17:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/?p=468"},"modified":"2019-06-01T06:53:35","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T06:53:35","slug":"how-long-masks-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/blog\/how-long-masks-last\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It True That Masks Last Just One Day?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We posted info and data on our findings on whether\u00a0<\/span>masks really can stop pollution<\/a>. My judgment after reading up on mask tests and testing them myself is that the science is pretty well settled.\u00a0<\/span>Masks do work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But there are still mysteries that need answers. Perhaps the biggest mystery out there is how long do these masks last?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Really Just One Day?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

I frequently run into people who suspect that masks only last one day, such as this person on Zhihu (and the 115 people who upvoted him):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Or this person who sent me an email:<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What Does 3M Say?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last year I had the chance to visit the 3M lab:<\/p>\n

\"masks\"<\/p>\n

While I was there, I asked them how long masks last. They wouldn\u2019t give an answer.<\/p>\n

Why? I think they\u2019re worried about giving a specific timeframe because many users are in industrial environments with super high or very toxic pollutants. So giving a general \u201cit lasts X days\u201d answer could mislead people who work in completely different environments. But for folks like us in China who see a fairly \u201cnormal\u201d range of pollution, we should be able to find a rough guideline.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Test<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fortunately, when\u00a0I went to do fit tests, I had a 9332 mask that I had been using for 11 days. And when I say \u201cused,\u201d I mean \u201cused intensely.\u201d It was summer in Beijing, and I wore the mask while biking around town and sweating heavily. I estimate I used the mask at least four times every day for those 11 days.<\/p>\n

It\u2019d be a lot better if we had lots of test data with more masks over more durations. But this data can at least test the popular conception that masks are single use or one-day use only.<\/p>\n

So what did the data say? Here are the results for a completely new 9332 mask (left) and my 11-day-old mask (right).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

98% after 11 days is pretty darn good! This contradicts the idea that you can only use these for a day or two.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, How Long Do Masks Last?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

The truth is, we need more data. With this limited data, my guess is masks last\u00a0at least two weeks<\/strong>. I use mine for 2-4 weeks, at which point\u00a0the rubber bands break or they get so gross I want to throw them out anyway!<\/p>\n

Keep breathing clean air, both inside and out!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We posted info and data on our findings on whether\u00a0masks really can stop pollution. My judgment after reading up on mask tests and testing them myself is that the science is pretty well settled.\u00a0Masks do work. But there are still mysteries that need answers. Perhaps the biggest mystery out there … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4580,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions\/469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}