Due
to the COVID-19 pandemic, current high demand for N95 filtering
facepiece respirators has placed them in short supply. Filtering facepiece
respirator wearers have traditionally been instructed to discard their
respirator and don a new one should the respirator become saturated
with perspiration or damp from exhaled breath. However, today’s
shortage may prohibit many N95 respirator wearers from replacing their
filtering facepieces at this desired frequency. Previously unpublished
research that evaluated the performance of N95 filtering facepiece
respirators saturated with artificial perspiration and then dried
out can help provide insight into making critical decisions about
the change out frequency of N95 respirators that become damp with
use. This study concluded that the collection efficiency of filtering
facepiece respirators, containing electrostatic filter media, remained
statistically unchanged or slightly improved after being dried out
following harsh saturation conditions with artificial perspiration.
Therefore, respirator wearers can continue to rely on their N95 filtering
facepiece respirators to perform as intended.