High performance homemade masks for protection against COVID-19 virus

在新冠肺炎大流行期间，据报告，即使不是所有国家，也有大多数国家出现了一次性过滤口罩严重短缺的情况，如N95口罩和外科口罩。这一短缺令人严重关切，特别是在疫情爆发期间，前线医护人员以及其他与公众接触的前线工作人员。在没有经过认证的口罩的情况下，公众可能会使用常见的家用材料即兴制作口罩。然而，关于这些材料在保护使用者免受生物气雾剂侵害方面的性能的证据有限。 本研究的目的是研究用于自制口罩的精选家居材料的性能，并为精选家居材料推荐合适的配置，以实现与N95口罩材料相似的性能。 鉴于新冠肺炎大流行期间N95呼吸器和外科口罩短缺，以及未来可能爆发的呼吸道感染疫情，这项研究与政府保护公众和一线工作人员的努力是一致的。这项研究的结果可以用来指导公众选择合适的口罩材料来制造口罩，从而缓解一线卫生工作者对N95口罩和外科口罩的需求。这项研究的结果将公之于众，造福于普通民众。

During COVID-19 pandemic, severe shortage in disposable filtering facepiece respirators such as N95 respirators and surgical masks, have been reported in most if not all countries. This shortage is of grave concern, particularly among frontline healthcare workers as well as other frontline workers in contact with the public during a pandemic. In the absence of certified respirators, the public might improvise face masks using common household materials. However, there is limited evidence about the performance of these materials in protecting the user against bioaerosols. The objectives of this research are to study the performance of select household materials for use in homemade masks and recommend suitable configurations for select household materials to achieve a performance similar to N95 respirator material. This research is aligned with the government effort to protect the public and frontline workers, given the shortage of N95 respirators and surgical masks during COVID-19 pandemic and possibly future respiratory infection outbreaks. The results from this research can be used to guide the public on selecting appropriate material for making face masks, which can ease the demand on N95 respirators and surgical masks needed for frontline health workers. The results from this research will be made public for the benefit of the general population.