WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Homemade masks can play a significant role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic but the type of fabric used is key to their effectiveness, according to tests performed at Wake Forest Baptist Health.
In order to determine the protective qualities of homemade cloth masks, a team of doctors and scientists used rigorous testing, known as particulate filtration, to evaluate 13 different designs from approximately 400 masks made by community volunteers.
Wake Forest Baptist Health says the goal was to find out which type of mask best-removed particles 0.3 – 1.0 microns in diameter, the size of many viruses and bacteria, in comparison to standard surgical masks and N95 respirators.
“We saw the possibility that we could face a shortage of surgical masks in the hospital and wanted to investigate the possibility of using cloth masks as an alternative as long as they worked and provided good protection for our doctors, nurses and patients,”said Scott Segal, M.D., chair of anesthesiology at Wake Forest Baptist, who conceived of the idea.
Testing was done by the Manufacturing Development Center at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist.