{"id":850,"date":"2020-11-20T09:03:29","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T14:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/?p=850"},"modified":"2020-11-20T09:03:29","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T14:03:29","slug":"is-this-kn95-mask-legit-how-long-can-i-reuse-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/?p=850","title":{"rendered":"Is this KN95 mask legit? How long can I reuse it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><u>Question:<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0We need to stock up on masks!\u00a0 I like the look and price of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bravenewlook.com\/products\/kn95-face-mask-pack-of-10?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_campaign=kn95-prospecting&amp;fbclid=IwAR33nABzLQz-RFQJ5lzTaRzqQES9973rZTIWVWfCmiwaEWjVEyx6kMgQfCU\">this black KN95 mask<\/a>, but how can I tell if it&#8217;s a real KN95 mask? And how many times can KN95 be reused before discarding?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Answer:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0KN95 masks are made in China and are sold in the US thanks to\u00a0emergency use authorization (EUA) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/news-events\/press-announcements\/fda-reissues-emergency-use-authorization-certain-non-niosh-approved-filtering-face-piece-respirators\">from FDA<\/a>.\u00a0 Unlike N95s, they do NOT have FDA clearance or NIOSH approval (reminder N95s are reserved for health workers).\u00a0 This factoid is important for making decisions about whether you&#8217;re purchasing a KN95 of acceptable\u00a0quality (see bullets below).\u00a0 In terms of reuse, CDC offers a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/hcp\/ppe-strategy\/decontamination-reuse-respirators.html\">set of guidelines<\/a>, which I&#8217;ve synthesized here:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Do not reuse if the mask is damaged, ill fitting, or hard to breathe through;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Reuse no more than 5 times;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Store each mask in its own &#8220;breathable paper bag&#8221; and wait at least five days before reusing each mask.&nbsp; As CDC states, &#8220;This will provide some time for pathogens on it to \u201cdie off\u201d during storage.&#8221;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Being an informed consumer:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Is the labeling truthful?<\/span>: If marketing is misleading, then product quality is questionable and you shouldn&#8217;t buy it. For example, if the seller makes claims that it is NIOSH approved, or if there&#8217;s NIOSH stamp\/logo on the mask or box, don&#8217;t buy it.\u00a0 If it claims to be approved for use by children, don&#8217;t buy it.\u00a0 And if it claims to be FDA approved or have an FDA logo on the box\/marketing materials, don&#8217;t buy it.\u00a0 NIOSH shows examples of such incorrect marketing\/labeling\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/niosh\/npptl\/usernotices\/counterfeitResp.html\">here<\/a>.<\/li><li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Are the prices fair?<\/span>:\u00a0Most KN95 masks sell for $2-$3\/unit (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/hcp\/ppe-strategy\/international-respirator-purchase.html\">per CDC<\/a>).\u00a0 If the masks you&#8217;re looking at are going for a rate much higher than that, you&#8217;re potentially being subject to price gouging.\u00a0 If you&#8217;re paying much less than that, the quality of the product is highly circumspect.<\/li><li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Is the website suspicious?<\/span>:\u00a0Are there typos?\u00a0 Broken links? Does the primary email use a free email service?\u00a0 Is customer feedback a bit off?\u00a0 These can all be red flags indicating that the seller is not legitimate.\u00a0 Steer clear.<\/li><li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Check the fit<\/span>:\u00a0Before buying many masks, consider buying a sample to test the fit. if the mask is loose, don&#8217;t use it.\u00a0 Masks with poor ear loop design can be too loose.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/li><li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Other factors<\/span>:\u00a0CDC offers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/hcp\/ppe-strategy\/international-respirator-purchase.html\">several other suggestions<\/a>, but they are generally geared towards a large scale purchaser rather than an individual.\u00a0 For example, NIOSH tests filtration efficiency of different international non-NIOSH approved masks, including many KN95s.\u00a0 Results are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/niosh\/npptl\/respirators\/testing\/NonNIOSHresults.html\">available online<\/a>\u00a0and can be helpful in making determinations if you know the mask manufacturer. Any mask &lt;95% efficient should NOT be purchased.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question:\u00a0We need to stock up on masks!\u00a0 I like the look and price of this black KN95 mask, but how can I tell if it&#8217;s a real KN95 mask? And how many times can KN95 be reused before discarding?\u00a0 Answer:\u00a0KN95 masks are made in China and are sold in the US thanks to\u00a0emergency use authorization [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[50,100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guidelines","category-masks","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/covidqanda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/unnamed.jpg?fit=500%2C625&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions\/852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covidqanda.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}