I spent a good chunk of this weekend doing mask fitting as two of my school’s hospitals are switching from one type of N95 to another, and we need to make sure we know what size they should where in the new masks. Some things I learned:

These masks are designed for protection, not comfort. But they’re also not designed to be worn all day, or reused. This is what my face looked like after wearing one for about 6 hours. (My nose isn’t sunburned, that’s from the mask too)

I was just sitting on my butt filling out paperwork! It would be much rougher to wear one for a full 12+ hour shift of taking care of patients!

You also can’t get your mask properly fitted if you have most facial hair (mustaches are mostly okay). This is 1) because OSHA regs don’t let you get tested with a beard because 2) the mask doesn’t seal to your face properly if it’s not clean shaven

So if you think you need to wear one at work anytime soon, you should probably shave! And if you’re wearing one with a beard, it’s likely not properly protecting you.

Yesterday, one staff member tried and failed mask fit with “heavy 5 o’clock shadow.” He then shaved, came back, and passed. Having experienced the difference between with and without facial hair in ~15 minutes, I wish he would do PSAs

A thing I should have realized: N95s are for blocking small particles, not chemicals. So when I had mine on, I could smell the clorox cleaner we used, but that didn’t mean my mask was busted

(yes this may be a fine line, no, I did not learn the difference)

Last, there’s a lot of people working hard to keep hospitals stocked, but hospitals need a LOT of PPE right now!

If you closed down your lab and haven’t passed along PPE that could be useful...why not???