Is the fit of N95 facial masks effected by disinfection? A study of heat and UV disinfection methods using the OSHA protocol fit test.

Amy DPhil Price; Yi Cui; Lei Liao; Wang Xiao; Xuanze Yu; Haotian Wang; Mervin Zhao; Qiqi Wang; Steven Chu; Larry F Chu

This research needs to be replicated with a larger number of masks using the brands most commonly used by clinicians. Due to a shortage of 3M 8210 N95 masks, we were not able to obtain sufficient samples for UVGI testing in this study. We were unable to test the 3M 8210 for UVGI as the mask shortage meant the 4c lab was unable to attain these masks for testing. Therefore, another limitation of this current study is that of only testing UV treatment on the mask materials from 3 manufacturers and 5 models. Tsai 2020 14 , the N95 inventor, and Lindsley 2015 15 note that UV damage to polypropylene fibers is possible but that it may be dosage, model and frequency dependent which is consistent with our preliminary disinfection and fit data. As we have previously noted, other studies using mannequins have studied a larger number of materials from a diversity of mask manufacturers.