Alternative Qualitative Fit Testing Method for N95 Equivalent Respirators in the Setting of Resource Scarcity at the George Washington University

Destie Provenzano; Yuan James Rao; Konstantin Mitic; Sofian N Obaid; Jeffrey Berger; Sharad Goyal; Murray H Loew

pieces are therefore self-contained and thought to have a high level of protection from environmental hazards. Because these masks must be air-tight around the face, they must also be fit tested. The 2019 Novel Coronavirus has caused an unprecedented in the number of practitioners seeking N95 protection and corresponding fit testing. This has resulted in a shortage of not just N95 respirators, but also a shortage in the materials used for fit testing respirators. A survey of 8,200 nurses across the USA reported that only 55% has access to N95 respirators, and only 65% had been fit tested in the last year. ii Commercially available fit tests like those produced by 3M cost $250-350 USD, and are currently on global backorder, and can sometimes take 2 -3 months to deliver.iii It is notable that a delay of 2-3 months in these resources make the use of this supply chain impractical given that peak resource use due to COVID-19 in the United States is expected on April 15 th , 2020, which is within several weeks of the writing of this article. iv Considering these shortages, OSHA has instituted temporary guidance to switch from quantitative methods of testing N95 respirators to qualitative methods.v OSH recommends four substances for testing qualitative fit of N95 respirators vi :