Stop buying these masks！

What mask is suitable?

At present, the masks you can see on the market mainly include: medical protective masks with the highest protection level (such as N95), medical surgical masks commonly used in invasive operating environments such as operating rooms and ordinary disposable medical masks. In addition, there are cotton masks and sponge masks worn by various stars

Medical protective mask (N95)

N95 respirator is one of 9 kinds of anti particulate respirators certified by NIOSH (National Institute of occupational safety and health). Its biggest feature is that it can prevent droplet infection caused by patients.

There are two kinds of ordinary N95 masks, one with breathing valve and one without breathing valve. It is considered that the breathing valve may reduce the protection against the virus, while without the breathing valve, the air permeability is poor, the breathing is more laborious, and it is not suitable to wear it for a long time. When you buy, you can choose according to the actual situation.

N95 is not a specific product name. As long as it meets the N95 standard and passes the NIOSH review, the product can be called “N95 mask”. It should be specially reminded that “bacterial filtration ≥ 95%” marked on the packaging of some brand masks is not equal to “N95 protection level”. In addition, there is no so-called 3M standard mask, 3M is only a mask brand, and not all 3M masks can reach N95 protection level.

Kn95 mask and N95 mask are actually the same thing, but the certification body is different. The former N95 is the standard formulated by NIOSH in the United States, while the latter kn95 is the level specified in the Chinese standard gb2626-2006. On the mask, you will generally see three sets of certification and marking systems: kn, N and FFP. Kn is the Chinese national standard certification, n stands for NIOSH certification, and FFP stands for European en149 certification. Having been certified by any of the three certification bodies is the basis for safe purchase.

surgical mask

Medical surgical masks are commonly used in operating rooms and other environments with the risk of body fluid and blood splashing. They can prevent blood and body fluid from passing through the masks to pollute the wearer. At the same time, the filtration efficiency of bacteria should not be less than 95%. However, the filtration efficiency of particles is limited, and most of them are rectangular design, and the tightness with the face is not as tight as that of medical protective masks.

When purchasing, we must pay attention to the mask with the words “medical surgical mask” or the executive standard. The latest executive standard of medical surgical masks is the pharmaceutical industry standard of the people’s Republic of China “technical requirements for medical surgical masks” yy-0469-2011 issued on December 31, 2011 and implemented on June 1, 2013.

Disposable medical mask

There are many names of ordinary medical masks. Medical masks without the words “protection” and “surgery” are ordinary medical masks. This level of mask is generally not required to have a barrier effect on blood, so it is only suitable for ordinary medical environment.

The current industry standard for ordinary medical masks is disposable medical masks YY / T 0969-2013.

Ordinary mask

Ordinary masks may be made of cotton cloth, gauze, sponge, canvas and velvet. Because the material itself is not dense enough, it can not prevent infection.

As for how to choose, the first thing to say is that in the press conference on New Coronavirus infection prevention and control, Zhong Nanshan, academician, said: “it is not necessary to wear N95, because these viruses are not actually exist alone. They are often found in flying foam. General masks, surgical masks and so on can still block most of the viruses that carry droplets into the respiratory tract.

Although from the perspective of protection effect alone, N95 mask has the strongest protection effect, followed by medical surgical mask and ordinary medical mask. However, the N95 mask also has the actual situation that it is difficult to use, difficult to buy, false price and so on. Therefore, there is no need to rush to buy N95 that can’t be worn. If it can’t be worn, it’s white. If you go to general open public places and do not contact patients, you can choose to wear medical surgical masks without excessive protection. However, if you will contact patients with suspected respiratory tract infection, you should wear N95 masks.