Time To Ditch the Cloth Mask and Get a Couple KF94 Masks
This aerosol engineer (and bike nerd) Aaron Collins, has been doing mask research and sharing his findings on YouTube. The videos are pretty lengthy, I watched em all, so here’s my incredible dumbed-down synopsis.
Cloth masks and surgical masks are good at protecting other people, they only have a 50% filter efficiency, and therefore not very good at protecting yourself. Doubling up on masks only makes things worse.
What you need is an N95 mask, they not only protect others but also yourself. N95 masks have a 95+% filter efficiency. However, N95’s are for first responders only. A great alternative is a KN95 mask, similar filter efficiency as N95, but not US government approved, so quality control may be risky. In comes KF94, a Korean general population standard, and they perform really well.
KF94 Mask Top Picks
- XS: Blue 3D
- Small: Bluna Facelift
- Medium: KF Series
- Large: LG Airwasher
- XL: BOTN
Dive into the full dataset to find a mask right for you.
You can wear the mask for 30-40 hours in a clean office-type environment. After wearing a mask, let it sit for at least 4 days, then you can reuse it again. Pro tip: Buy a couple of masks to keep in rotation.
Heavy disclaimer: my synopsis is extremely watered down, I advise you to watch all of Aaron’s mask videos, this great write-up about Aaron on Yahoo News, and do your research to find the right mask for you.
Stay safe peoples!