COVID‐19: Facemasks, healthcare policies and risk factors in the crucial initial months of a global pandemic

Ahmed, Jubair; Harker, A. H.; Edirisinghe, Mohan

doi:10.1002/mds3.10120

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 125 publications

(146 reference statements)

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“…Nowadays, various types of personal protective equipment (PPE) have been widely adopted by hospital staff and individuals in daily life in order to tackle this aggressive transmission [21]. Especially, usage of different types of face masks and making a habit of wearing PPE has successfully provided a proper way of protection to the wearers against such risks [22,23]. However, contact routes created by inanimate objects acting as vectors of transmission after being exposed to the respiratory tracts of an infected person still carries a significant risk in terms of transmission since they are not easy to track.…”

Section: Transmission Of Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface interactions and viability of coronaviruses

Aydoğdu

Altun

Chung

et al. 2021

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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The recently emerged coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has become a worldwide threat affecting millions of people, causing respiratory system related problems that can end up with extremely serious consequences. As the infection rate rises significantly and this is followed by a dramatic increase in mortality, the whole world is struggling to accommodate change and is trying to adapt to new conditions. While a significant amount of effort is focused on developing a vaccine in order to make a game-changing anti-COVID-19 breakthrough, novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is also developing mutations rapidly as it transmits just like any other virus and there is always a substantial chance of the invented antibodies becoming ineffective as a function of time, thus failing to inhibit virus-to-cell binding efficiency as the spiked protein keeps evolving. Hence, controlling the transmission of the virus is crucial. Therefore, this review summarizes the viability of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces under different conditions while addressing the current state of known chemical disinfectants for deactivation of the coronaviruses. The review attempts to bring together a wide spectrum of surface–virus–cleaning agent interactions to help identify material selection for inanimate surfaces that have frequent human contact and cleaning procedures for effective prevention of COVID-19 transmission.

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Section: Transmission Of Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface interactions and viability of coronaviruses

Aydoğdu

Altun

Chung

et al. 2021

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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“…In this regard, many academics around the world have urged governments and citizens to make mask-wearing a universal social practice [26]. Ahmed, Harker and Edirisinghe [12] also argue that "in Europe and North America, there is stigmatisation for healthy people wearing facemasks which can cause racial aggravations, revised public education is therefore required" (10). The expectation is that universal use of masks will help overcome cultural barriers and lower the perceptions that the mask-wearers must be ill people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Answers to this issue are far from comprehensive in the literature. Note that the effectiveness of facemasks, on the other hand, differs greatly with factors, such as types of mask, mask materials, geographical and social-economic characteristics of a society, see [ 12 ] for a detailed review.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voluntary adoption of social welfare-enhancing behavior: Mask-wearing in Spain during the COVID-19 outbreak

Barceló

Sheen

2020

PLoS ONE

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With the spread of COVID-19, more countries now recommend their citizens to wear facemasks in public. The uptake of facemasks, however, remains far from universal in countries where this practice lacks cultural roots. In this paper, we aim to identify the barriers to mask-wearing in Spain, a country with no mask-wearing culture. We conduct one of the first nationally representative surveys (n = 4,000) about this unprecedented public health emergency and identify the profile of citizens who are more resistant to face-masking: young, educated, unconcerned with being infected, and with an introverted personality. Our results further indicate a positive correlation between a social norm of mask-wearing and mask uptake and demonstrate that uptake of facemasks is especially high among the elderly living in localities where mask-wearing behavior is popular. These results are robust when controlling for respondents’ demographics, time spent at home, and occupation fixed effects. Our findings can be useful for policymakers to devise effective programs for improving public compliance.

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“…With further evaluation, this novel half face-piece respirator may be implemented in case of supply chain disruption during the outbreak of COVID-19, with the proviso of availability of equipment, materials, and trained personnel (see below). The wearing of facemasks is a supplementary approach to reduce disease spread in addition to physical distancing measures and hand hygiene [ 22 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development, manufacturing, and preliminary validation of a reusable half-face respirator during the COVID-19 pandemic

Anwari

Hondjeu

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread shortages of N95 respirators and other personal protective equipment (PPE). An effective, reusable, locally-manufactured respirator can mitigate this problem. We describe the development, manufacture, and preliminary testing of an open-hardware-licensed device, the “simple silicone mask” (SSM). Methods A multidisciplinary team developed a reusable silicone half facepiece respirator over 9 prototype iterations. The manufacturing process consisted of 3D printing and silicone casting. Prototypes were assessed for comfort and breathability. Filtration was assessed by user seal checks and quantitative fit-testing according to CSA Z94.4–18. Results The respirator originally included a cartridge for holding filter material; this was modified to connect to standard heat-moisture exchange (HME) filters (N95 or greater) after the cartridge showed poor filtration performance due to flow acceleration around the filter edges, which was exacerbated by high filter resistance. All 8 HME-based iterations provided an adequate seal by user seal checks and achieved a pass rate of 87.5% (N = 8) on quantitative testing, with all failures occurring in the first iteration. The overall median fit-factor was 1662 (100 = pass). Estimated unit cost for a production run of 1000 using distributed manufacturing techniques is CAD $15 in materials and 20 minutes of labor. Conclusion Small-scale manufacturing of an effective, reusable N95 respirator during a pandemic is feasible and cost-effective. Required quantities of reusables are more predictable and less vulnerable to supply chain disruption than disposables. With further evaluation, such devices may be an alternative to disposable respirators during public health emergencies. The respirator described above is an investigational device and requires further evaluation and regulatory requirements before clinical deployment. The authors and affiliates do not endorse the use of this device at present.

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COVID‐19: Facemasks, healthcare policies and risk factors in the crucial initial months of a global pandemic

Cited by 8 publications

References 125 publications

Surface interactions and viability of coronaviruses

Surface interactions and viability of coronaviruses

Voluntary adoption of social welfare-enhancing behavior: Mask-wearing in Spain during the COVID-19 outbreak

Development, manufacturing, and preliminary validation of a reusable half-face respirator during the COVID-19 pandemic

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