Mask Protection
Not all masks offer the same protection
If you or your employees are in a high risk or high exposure environment, then a surgical or cloth mask is not going to offer you appropriate protection against Covid19 particles. That’s because both the surgical and cloth masks (the commonly seen blue/white disposable type), while moderately effective at capturing particles coming from your own mouth, offer little protection against incoming particles.
Currently all frontline staff at the border and in healthcare settings who are at greater risk of exposure to COVID-19 need to be fitted with the N95 (or similar alternative) face masks.
A surgical mask will help you to restrict particles from your mouth but does little to prevent incoming particles.
Mask Information
Disposable P2/N95 masks
A surgical mask will help you to restrict particles from your mouth but does little to prevent incoming particles.
To properly protect yourself against COVID-19 and other contaminants that are dangerous to your health, you need to wear a filtering facepiece respirator – called a high-filtration mask – such as a P2 or N95 respirator. These masks contain an electrostatic charge that traps particles being breathed in or out.
These face masks can offer hours of protection when in high-risk indoor settings where there is no or little ventilation. But they need to have a very tight seal around the face. If there is not a tight seal around the face, these face masks do not provide any better protection than a well-fitting medical mask.
A well-fitting mask should seal to the skin around all edges. If there are any gaps whatsoever then the mask is not properly fitted.
Particulate respirator face masks come in a variety of models. They are identified by which international regulatory standard they meet.
- P2 is the Australia/New Zealand respiratory standard.
- N95 is the United States respiratory standard.
- KN95 is the Chinese respiratory standard.
- FFP2 is the European respiratory standard.
When used correctly disposable high-filtration face masks offer the highest level of protection.
Ensure you have received training on how to don and doff your mask correctly (and other PPE). Fityaface offers this training at each fit test. Book your test today.