By Devabhaktuni Srikrishna, Abraar Karan, David Beier and Ranu S. Dhillon
October 20, 2020
With a vaccine still months away for most people in the United States and years away in many other countries, a specific kind of mask is the most effective way to immediately protect essential workers in a wide range of industries who may be at greater risk of exposure to Covid-19. Federal, state, and local governments, employers, and academic institutions should help make them widely available and ensure their adoption.
... By conducting an extensive review of preexisting and emerging mask designs, we discovered elastomeric N95 masks (eN95s) are the best alternative to N95s, which continue to be in short supply even in health care settings. They are reusable, offer N95-level protection from both small particles (aerosols) and larger droplets, and are widely available for at least the immediate future.
October 20, 2020
With a vaccine still months away for most people in the United States and years away in many other countries, a specific kind of mask is the most effective way to immediately protect essential workers in a wide range of industries who may be at greater risk of exposure to Covid-19. Federal, state, and local governments, employers, and academic institutions should help make them widely available and ensure their adoption.
... By conducting an extensive review of preexisting and emerging mask designs, we discovered elastomeric N95 masks (eN95s) are the best alternative to N95s, which continue to be in short supply even in health care settings. They are reusable, offer N95-level protection from both small particles (aerosols) and larger droplets, and are widely available for at least the immediate future.