An electrostatic charged face mask, including KN95 and N95 contains a layer of material inside that has an electrostatic charge. This should be able to destroy nano-virus particles that slip past the outer material layer. But washing the mask, even getting it wet in the rain can discharge the static electricity. Does this mean we cannot clean a face mask?
Does This Mean KN95 and N95 are Single Use Masks
That certainly should be the case in high-care medical situations, where healthcare workers may change theirs several times a day. However, we may not all have the luxury of affording a new face mask frequently. So how do we go about cleaning our electrostatic charged face masks if they are dirty? Or for that matter we suspect there is a live virus on them.
We relied on advice from Bruce Y Lee writing in Forbes Magazine for this post. Although our advice is always change a face mask if any doubt. By Bruce’s own account he is ‘a writer, journalist, professor, systems modeler, computational and digital health expert, avocado-eater, and entrepreneur, not always in that order’.
Bruce Y Lee’s Advice for Cleaning Electrostatic Charged Face Masks
1… You cannot wash an electrostatic charged face mask in the laundry because this will compromise its structural integrity.
2… However, we also have to cleanse our face masks to rid them of any viruses, bacteria, or any other microbes they caught.
3… We may gently hand wash them in soapy water, and rinse carefully but this will cancel the electrostatic charge.
4… Alternatively, if we only want to sanitize the virus we can have a set of four masks we rotate daily, so each rests for a minimum 72 hours.
That’s all we could discover on the subject. Face masks cannot entirely protect us from the virus on their own. We also need fresh air and social distancing too.
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