91–100 of 134 posts
Can someone explain why you can’t just have three masks, and circulate through them? We’ve been told that the virus dies after 3 days just sitting there. Why do I need to decontaminate it ad in TFA? I don’t get it.
My family has been decontaminating our N95 masks with ozone. I bought a battery-operated O3 generator and if you place it into a tupperware container along with the mask, it will decontaminate it and then you can use it the next day. Yale School of Medicine has done a study on the efficacy of this method. [1] I prefer this method because it doesn't degrade the mask at all, it needs no disinfecting/harsh chemicals, it…
Wow this is actually incredible if this works. However this study was tested bacteria and relate it to covid in the following way: "an ozone application achieves a high level of disinfection against PsA, a vegetative bacteria that the CDC identifies as more difficult to kill than medium sized viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19)" Would the implication be that this same method works on covid as well? That is not imme…
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Yup, my wife went all out and got one of those UV sanitizer boxes[1] too along with the Under Armour face masks[2]. Their instructions say to wash it but it's convenient to just place in a box. We have also been cleaning other items in there including baby toys. [1] https://lumolite.com/ [2] https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/p/ua-sportsmask/1368010.ht...
I can understand how UV light can sterilize hard surfaces like a cell phone, but how does it sterilize multi-layer fabrics where the virus may be shaded from the UV light by the fabric?
In May I built a 5-ft long 24x24" cross-section sealed plywood box with a small (6x6") MERV13 filtered inlet opening and an auto-detailing fogger filled with 3% hydrogen peroxide at one end. A center chamber with a web of small hooks on a wire frame for the N95 masks, mirror (plexiglass) glued on the walls of the center chamber to bounce the UV-C around and an 18" long Blade UV-C (254nm) lamp that peers in through a slot on the top of the chamber. On the far end I used a ~30cfm duct fan to pull the the hydrogen peroxide fog through the chamber and masks and a flexible duct to take the exhaust outside my garage. I used UV-C dosimeter disks to tune the amount of time needed for proper UV-C exposure (about 5 mins or so). I put the masks in it, turn on the Blade UV-C lamp, turn on the fogger and let it go for about an hour. I then turn off the fogger and let the fan pull fresh air through for another hour or so. It's not pretty but I think it is effective.
My wife thinks I am crazy.
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They're not widely available to non-medical buyers because they're still not easily attainable for medical buyers. N95s aren't the easiest thing to manufacturer, so ramping up production to fully satisfy current demand would require a significant investment in time and capital. Companies aren't going to do that without some certainty that they'll actually be able to sell enough of their extra production to cover the…
My company tried donating 120 boxes of 3M N95 masks to our major local hospitals at the beginning of the pandemic. We only asked that the expense would not be charged to patients directly or indirectly. None of the hospitals accepted the masks based on the no indirect billing part.
If you don’t have enough masks for that, I imagine a sous vide machine (like the Joule) would work. Just seal the mask in a plastic bag and place under water for the appropriate amount of time. These things hold very precise temperatures.
Related: can anyone explain why there are still no n95 masks available? It seems like, a few months in, it's surprising that there are none available for non-medical buyers. Is this perception wrong?
Here’s her site FWIW ($128 for a box of 50, $2.56 unit price): https://www.wesupplyppe.com/product-page/KN95-2
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I don't understand why governments haven't made the contracts and guarantees to ensure increased global production over the long-term (not just for Covid-19). We're going to need a much higher rate of production for years to come, yet everybody keeps thinking "Next month! It'll all be over next month!". I'm tired of this shit, and I'm tired of governments thinking so short-sightedly. The EU alone could make a huge di…
Because incompetence?
Related: can anyone explain why there are still no n95 masks available? It seems like, a few months in, it's surprising that there are none available for non-medical buyers. Is this perception wrong?
The continued scarcity of n95 masks in the US has to do with an incompetent/malicious federal government’s failure/refusal to incentivize massive local production of masks, and a constant increase in demand by hospitals because of the rising number of cases.
Related: can anyone explain why there are still no n95 masks available? It seems like, a few months in, it's surprising that there are none available for non-medical buyers. Is this perception wrong?
Fwiw KN95 (Chinese standard) are available from Costco online for about $2.50 a piece. I assume Costco isn't selling fakes. They have ear loops so the fit isn't as tight as N95 masks and needs some fiddling.