Full-face mask adapter as COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment: design, tests and validation

Fuentes-Alvarez, R.; Alfaro-Ponce, M.; Alvarado, F.; Mora-Galvan, J. A.; Fuentes-Aguilar, R. Q.; Matehuala-Moran, I.

According to the WHO, COVID-19 is transmitted mainly between people through contact, derived from droplets that occur in an individual who manifests respiratory symptoms. These droplets can come from the mucus (mouth and nose) or conjunctiva (eyes), having a diameter between 5 to 10 micrometers. As a consequence of it, there is high contagion rate presented by this virus, making essential that health personnel in contact with these patients wear highly specialized protective equipment, this has led to a shortage of these products worldwide. This paper presents the design, development and validation of a health personnel protection system which consists of a diving mask, an adapter made in 3D printing (additive manufacturing) and a bidirectional High Efficiency Particulate Air filter. Protocols for cleaning, sterilization and management of the device components are also presented. The personal protective equipment was tested in the Intensive Care Unit for COVID-19 patients from the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran at Mexico City.