Jump to content

Menu

Masking outside


Not_a_Number
 Share

Do you mask when you're outside?  

115 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you mask when you're outside?

    • Yes, always.
      6
    • Yes, unless I have at least 6 feet between me and nearby people.
      26
    • Yes, unless I have at least a ton of space between me and nearby people.
      38
    • No.
      45


Recommended Posts

(Also posted on Not_a_number's mask review thread)

Happy Masks finally got back to me (I emailed a question 7/12, they sent me junk mail in response, I sent a follow up email yesterday, and got a response this morning).  I'll post this in the Masking Outside thread too.

The centre seam is welded, not sewn - I'm pleasantly surprised and glad to have been wrong (excerpt from email follows):

"The middle seam in our filter is attached through a fabric welding process, which uses heat and pressure to join the two pieces of fabric. This creates a very strong bond that prevents any leaks or breaks in our final mask."
 
The filters have been lab tested, but the finished masks have not:
 
"Nelson Labs is one of the most well-established and credible 3rd party testers of non-medical masks, and they require all testing be done on the filter, and not the mask itself. The reason for this is that no non-medical mask can guarantee any percentage of filtration when worn, since so much of that depends on the fit of the mask on the face. But what can be very definitive and black and white is the filtration of the filter itself." (bolding mine)
 
As an aside, I noted that on the HM website, they quote "surgical mask" filtration at "60-80%".  I note that Nelson labs states that American medical mask standards require >95% BFE and PFE for level 1 medical masks, and >98% BFE and PFE for level 2 medical masks.  (The term "surgical mask" has a PPE definition (subset of medical masks) and a surgical mask has to meet the above-mentioned standards to be labelled for sale as such.  Canadian standards are similar)).  I asked HM to explain the discrepancy.   When they use the term "surgical mask", they actually mean surgical-style non-medical mask, not an actual surgical mask.  Apples to oranges.  I find that a bit disingenuous and frankly, misleading.  If they mean non-medical surgical-style masks, then I think they should be precise with their terminology in their marketing.  (Of course I know people use the term surgical mask colloquially to mean surgical-style non-medical mask.  I still think HM's comparison is sloppy and misleading):
 
"Most surgical masks that customers are wearing are non-medical surgical masks, and are percentages are based on that. The range for surgical mask filtration is quite high - but within the category of surgical masks, there are many grades, with most sold to non-medical personnel being "non-medical" which have a lower standard of filtration that we have shown in our chart."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...