N95, KN95, KF94, FFP2, M95i, M95c, M94k — the list is growing. If you have been shopping for high filtration masks, then this alphabet soup sounds familiar.
With winter break over, COVID and other respiratory viruses are running through our community.
As more parents are reaching out for recommendations, I wanted to update you on the latest in high filtration masks for 2022.
The key elements for maximum protection continue to be filtration, fit and comfort.
The good news is that we now have more mask options, including high filtration masks for children as young as 2 years old.
Omicron and Delta are different
The Omicron variant has learned how to infect humans with less viral particles and a shorter exposure time than Delta. The result is that we are seeing more pediatric and vaccine breakthrough cases.
COVID-19 continues to spread through aerosols. As the most infectious strain to date, Omicron can infect you by breathing in smaller amounts of virus.
To better protect ourselves, we must maximize our layers of protection. When it comes to masks, this means high-efficiency filtration, secure fit and maximal comfort.
Early in the pandemic, we barely had enough high-filtration masks for health care workers. The good news is that now we have plenty of high filtration options to fit faces of all sizes.
Alphabet soup of masks
Different regions of the world have their own testing standards and regulatory agencies that ensure quality for masks used in healthcare and occupational settings.
In the United States, N95 is the gold standard. South Korea uses KF94, the European Union uses FFP2,and China uses KN95. Each model has its own specifications for filtration, shape and design.
Not all masks provide equal protection
While having some face covering may be better than having no face covering, certain masks clearly provide better protection than others (especially indoors and in crowded outdoor settings).
Think about the person next to you in line with the cloth mask that keeps falling under his nose and his buddy wearing a mask under his chin.
These “coverings” are about as effective as an unbuckled seat belt and will not provide any protection for the person wearing the mask or for any innocent bystanders.
Seek out high filtration masks
We should all be seeking out masks with better filtration. N95, KF94, FFP2 and the KN95 all provide very high filtration.
Independent American mask manufacturers, such as Lutema, are producing masks that exceed 99% filtration. Even though they can’t legally call themselves “N95” or “KN95”, due to differences in design and testing standards, these new generations of masks provide superior filtration over cloth masks.
Find a style that fits your face
A mask that fits your face well will provide better protection.
To get the maximum benefit from a mask, you should be breathing through the layers of the mask and not through the sides of your face covering. If you can feel your breath coming out of the top, bottom or sides of your mask, then it doesn’t fit you well and you are missing out on maximum protection.
Features such as a bendable nose wire and adjustable ear loops help to optimize fit. If you find a mask that fits your child’s face, but does not have adjustable ear loops, then search YouTube for creative life hacks such as tying a knot to make the loops smaller.
What about a cloth mask with a filter?
While it sounds like inserting a filter might increase effectiveness over a plain cloth mask, it might also affect the overall fit around the edges and allow more air leaks.
A mask that offers edge to edge filtration will provide better protection than one with a filter insert.
If it is comfortable, you are more likely to wear it
Is it possible to use the words “comfort” and “mask” in the same sentence? I’m sorry, but I guess it is all relative. What I can say is that people who find more comfortable masks are more likely to wear them.
Higher filtration does not necessarily mean “less comfortable” or “harder to breathe.” In fact, as someone who wears an N95 for most of my work day, I found a style that I can wear for several hours at a time.
Two of the more comfortable designs are the bi-fold (KN95 style) and boat design (KF94 style). While cloth masks constantly get sucked in and out of your mouth when you talk, the bi-fold and boat designs keep the mask off of your lips and are generally more comfortable.
What about high filtration masks for kids?
As a pediatrician, I spend most of my day advising parents on ways to keep their children healthy. Now with Omicron infecting more children, I would strongly recommend that families try to replace cloth masks with higher filtration masks.
We have been sending our kids to school in Lutema USA masks.
The Lutema M95i fits our two high schoolers, and the M95c comfortably fits our 6th grader. Lutema has now released the M94k mask that will fit children under the age of 6.
KF94 masks also come in all sizes, even some small enough to fit a 2-year-old.
If you are interested in a short video on how to select masks for children under the age of 12, I found this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88AGnN-nwI) to be very helpful.
You will find a Google doc linked to this video that compares many kid-sized, high filtration masks and where parents can purchase them.
Q: What else can we do to keep our kids safer at school?
A: Layers. I’m not just referring to multi-layered masks, but all of the safeguards we can layer on to keep our kids safer during this latest surge, including:
» Vaccination. The most effective and protective layer of protection for anyone 5 years and older is to get a COVID vaccine. Those who are 12 and older should get boosted.
» Ventilation. Ensure that your student is in a well-ventilated classroom, ideally with a HEPA filter. If you are not sure, ask your school if they have done ventilation testing.
» Maximize distancing. In order to accommodate all of our students, distancing may have been compromised in some classrooms. To the extent possible, distancing should still be maximized inside and outside of the classroom. Desks should still be spread out and not clustered into pods.
» Masking. Try to replace cloth (and other poorly fitting masks) with high filtration masks that completely cover the mouth and nose and are comfortable to wear. For younger kids, colors and patterns can make masks more fun. Practice wearing masks at home. If you are looking for an extra layer of protection at school, ask your student to stay masked while on the playground. Don’t forget to change out masks regularly, especially when they get sweaty or soiled.
» Stay home if you are sick. Please don’t go to school when you are sick, even with a negative COVID test. Please wait until symptoms have improved and your child is less contagious. If we send sick kids back too soon, they will endlessly spread viruses to one another, causing more kids and parents to miss more school and work.
Stay masked and get vaxed
Providing higher filtration masks for students and teachers is one way to make the classroom significantly safer.
If you are 5 or older, please get a COVID vaccine. If you are 12 and older, please get boosted.
If your teenager is begging to get a vaccine, please give your consent. COVID vaccine studies are ongoing for kids as young as 6 months to 4 years.
As soon as these roll out, we’ll hopefully see a further reduction in community transmission.
This pandemic won’t last forever, but it is time for all of us to work together, stay patient, and go out of our way to be kind to one another.
Together we can help life get back to normal. Thanks for getting vaxed and staying masked.
Dr. Dan Brennan is a board-certified pediatrician at Sansum Clinic who hopes we will all work together to slow the spread of COVID-19 by being both masked and mighty and vaxed and mighty.
