Chancellor's face mask

[AleisterCrowley]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53510631

Avoiding any political comment - what is the white circle on the mask ?
Is it an exhalation valve?

[niord]

It's a valve. He got a lot of criticism for wearing a mask with a valve

[AleisterCrowley]

Thanks!

[newlyretired]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53510631

Avoiding any political comment - what is the white circle on the mask ?
Is it an exhalation valve?

That BBC news page seems to have changed, no sign of the Chancellor now.

newlyretired

[AleisterCrowley]

It has, now it's Mr Gove with his face 50% covered...

[bungeejumper]

It has, now it's Mr Gove with his face 50% covered...

Better than nothing, I suppose. Only the other half still to go.

I have a couple of FFP2 masks (with valves/vents) that I bought from B&Q some time ago as dust masks - and I then discovered an FFP3 among my protective gear. Well past its use-by date for medical purposes, I imagine? Anyway, I'm keeping them because I have a minor lung problem and there might be situations where i don't feel well enough protected by the standard 3-ply masks. I wore one into the doctor's surgery a few weeks back, and nobody turned a hair.

BJ

[Julian]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53510631

Avoiding any political comment - what is the white circle on the mask ?
Is it an exhalation valve?

Funny, I had been noticing that for a few days and was just about to do a post to ask about it today because I was shocked, assuming it was an exhalation valve, which does indeed seem to be the case. I'm not sure if anyone has identified the exact make of mask to be able to look at the specs and 100% confirm that there isn't some clever filter behind the exhalation valve but due to the size of the valve (small) I think it's very unlikely there is any significant filtering and probably none at all.

Sunak's mask is sending out 100% the wrong message and I am amazed that someone in the upper levels of government, civil service or scinetific advisers hadn't flagged this before. Now of course there might be a medical reason for Sunak to have a valve if he has some condition that results in him having some level of breathing difficulty but in general these masks with exhaust valves work directly against the Government's mask message (as I understand the current message) which is that a face mask may or may not offer the wearer some protection against others who are infected but there is good evidence that it will protect others from the wearer if he/she is infected and so is a valuable tool to help reduce the rate of spread of the virus. These masks with exhaust valves however are either intended to allow the wearer to breath more easily with a given level of filtration by forsaking any protection for those around them, and/or are designed to allow the protection against others to be increased by going up to higher grade filters (e.g. N95 or even N99 and beyond) but still maintain acceptable breathability for the user, again compromising the safety of those around an infected mask wearer by giving the wearer virtually unimpeded (unfiltered) airflow when they breathe out (virtually unimpeded because the exhaust valve is a one-way valve thus giving slight back-pressure).

Unless there's a medical reason for needing it then Sunak really needs to change his mask and, as a secondary point, it is really disappointing that someone at that level of government hadn't thought through the basic principles behind the Government's mask policy enough to have not falling into that glaringly obvious trap in the first place.

- Julian

[supremetwo]

It's exactly the same type of maximum-protection mask for a wearer that those directly treating Corvid patients are using.

But they have been tested to be clear of Corvid.

After the PM's experience, it is probable that the Chancellor and other top politicians are also being tested on a regular basis.

[Julian]

It's exactly the same type of maximum-protection mask for a wearer that those directly treating Corvid patients are using.

But they have been tested to be clear of Corvid.

After the PM's experience, it is probable that the Chancellor and other top politicians are also being tested on a regular basis.

Good point about top politicians being frequently tested but I still think the Chancellor wearing a mask with an exhaust valve sends a wrong and confusing message.

For people treating Covid-19 patients I wouldn't have thought that an exhalation valve is an issue even ignoring the fact that they have been tested. By definition the wearer is working in an environment already laden with airborne and surface virus contamination so even if the wearer was infected after their last all-clear test they simply become one more virus-shedding person in a room already full of virus-shedding people.

There are actually a few Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects for masks offering up to N99 protection levels (in fact in one case slightly beyond N99) while filtering both inhaled and exhaled air (i.e. no exhaust valve) but the ones I've seen are still in production and haven't shipped to consumers yet so it remains to be seen how hot and uncomfortable they might get when forcing the exhalation out through an N99 or high-grade HEPA filter. In general the approach I've seen to try and address that issue is to make the filter area as big as possible to try and reduce the back pressure and I've signed up to pre-purchase a couple of different designs so I should find out in about September how they fare in terms of comfort. I decided to take the risk in case things get bad again this coming winter in which case I would be reassured by having a mask that gives me high medical-grade protection without compromising the protect-others aspect of wearing a mask.

One Kickstarter project that I was following earlier on tied itself into a bit of a knot because it had an exhalation valve and then got loads of comments from potential backers saying that masks with exhalation valves were actively prohibited where they lived. That project ended up including a small plastic screw-on cap with the mask to block off the exhalation valve and then had to offer downgraded filters for those using the cap since the originally planned N99 filter would have been too difficult to exhale through. I didn't back that particular project but it was the one that set me off on a quest to find a highly protective mask without ans exhaust valve.

- Julian

[Lootman]

There are actually a few Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects for masks offering up to N99 protection levels (in fact in one case slightly beyond N99) while filtering both inhaled and exhaled air (i.e. no exhaust valve) but the ones I've seen are still in production and haven't shipped to consumers yet so it remains to be seen how hot and uncomfortable they might get when forcing the exhalation out through an N99 or high-grade HEPA filter. In general the approach I've seen to try and address that issue is to make the filter area as big as possible to try and reduce the back pressure and I've signed up to pre-purchase a couple of different designs so I should find out in about September how they fare in terms of comfort. I decided to take the risk in case things get bad again this coming winter in which case I would be reassured by having a mask that gives me high medical-grade protection without compromising the protect-others aspect of wearing a mask.

One Kickstarter project that I was following earlier on tied itself into a bit of a knot because it had an exhalation valve and then got loads of comments from potential backers saying that masks with exhalation valves were actively prohibited where they lived.

I keep hearing that masks with exhaust valves are prohibited but I have been wearing my N99 mask with a valve for months now and nobody has stopped me or said anything. That said I read today that Delta Airlines has prohibited passengers from wearing them so maybe it is just a matter of time.

For those who value N95 or N99 protection and want to avoid that problem there are two simple methods:

1) Affix a piece of tape over the valve. Or

2) Wear a cheap disposable mask over the N95/N99 mask.