Washing Cloth Mask Does Not Alter Its Effect Against Virus

The effectiveness of the cloth mask is not reduced even after washing and drying, finds a study conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder . The findings of the study are published in the journal Aerosol and Air Quality Research. From the beginning of the pandemic about 7,200 tons of medical waste and much of it were disposable masks. According to Vance - "We were really bothered during the beginning of the pandemic when going out on a hike or going downtown, and seeing all these disposable masks littering the environment."

Researchers wanted to see the effect of cloth masks after washing and drying so they created double layer cotton and put them through repeated washing and drying and tested them between every 7 cleaning cycles.

The mask was mounted to one end of a steel funnel and the constant flow of air and air-borne particles were controlled under different conditions like humidity and temperature. The cotton fibers started to fall apart over a period of time due to constant washing and drying but there was a decrease in the cloth’s filtration efficiency.

The only change noticed was that the inhalation resistance had increased slightly(the mask made breathing a little difficult).

Another criterion was also taken into consideration, the shape of a person’s face. Previous study has shown that if the mask was poorly-fit about 50 percent of air-borne particles will slip through.

Researchers have found that the use of cloth masks along with surgical masks increases the protection. The surgical mask filtered about 42-48% of tiny particles and the cloth mask on top of the surgical mask reached 40% filtration efficiency. KN95 and N95 masks performed the best and it filtered about 83-99% of tiny particles.

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"I think the best mask might be the one that you're actually going to wear," "And that is going to fit snugly against your face without being too uncomfortable." Says Vance.

Source-Medindia