Erin Lipovich is the parent of a Wasatch student, and an avid researcher. She has kindly compiled the following information to help the community source quality masks. Thanks Erin!
The cloth masks recommended earlier in the pandemic helped prevent those infected from spreading covid-19. Today, with more highly contagious variants spreading, medical personnel are urging everyone to upgrade from cloth to more protective masks that also keep the wearer safe.
Masks certified as N95 (USA), KN95 (China), KF94 (Korea), or FPP2 (Europe) have been tested and proven to filter out >94% of all aerosols, including airborne viruses such as covid-19. Unfortunately, sources like Amazon are overrun with fakes, making it best to buy your masks from reliable sources.
- The N95 Project – a non-profit dedicated to providing access to trustworthy personal protective equipment – only sells masks guaranteed to be genuine.
- Bona Fide Masks, as the name suggests, only sells masks that have been certified as genuine and is the sole US distributor of Powecom Brand KN95 masks.
- Armbrust is a manufacturing company in Texas that sells masks “designed, developed and made in the USA.” Wanting to help people find trustworthy masks wherever they can, the company has made their extensive testing database public and searchable.
- Aaron Collins, an aerosol expert known to the internet as Mask Nerd, has been testing masks since the start of the pandemic. His results, found HERE, have a special section on masks for children. He also has a YouTube channel.
As we enter year three of the pandemic, working together and following best practices will help keep our community as safe as possible.