University creates masks made from materials available in hospitals

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, healthcare facilities all over the world were experiencing severe shortages of medical and protective equipment. To tackle this problem, a team from the Department of anesthesiology at the University of Florida Health developed masks that can be produced from materials that are commonly found in those healthcare facilities.

The masks are made of Halyard H600 two-ply spun polypropylene, a material that is used as sterile wrapping for surgical equipment and has the ability to block aerosols and droplets. Since it is a common material, most hospitals would have the capacity to produce hundreds of theses masks.

The idea was created by Bruce Spiess, a professor of anesthesiology in the UF College of Medicine, who explains that “This material is otherwise thrown out, so by taking it, cutting it and making masks out of it, we’ve repurposed it,”

The team at UF Health has tested the masks for their filtering capabilities but emphasizes that hey have not been officially approved by the FDA and are not certified as N95 masks. However, they could be useful in cases where N95 masks are not available, so the healthcare professional can stay protected.

They are developing two different prototypes of the masks and the assembly instructions for both are freely available at the department’s website.

Instructions and more information: https://anest.ufl.edu/clinical-divisions/mask-alternative/

Adapted from: https://m.ufhealth.org/news/2020/uf-health-anesthesiology-team-devises-r...

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