Best reusable masks to send with your kid to college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Masks from vistaprint and cut filters from material from filti. The colleges will have infected people, I would want a filtered mask in that environment.

I just know my ds will forget to remove the filters before throwing the masks in the wash! Ugh

I had the same thought. There’s just no way he is going to remove the filters before washing the masks, if he washes them at all.

Also, the mask protects other people, it does not protect the wearer, filter or not.

DP. Not necessarily so. A proper filter (not just a paper towel or tissue) does increase layers and therefore conveys some protection to the wearer. I have masks with four-layer filter inserts. They are NOT going to shut out all virus, I know. But I wear them if I must go indoors someplace that is high-traffic like a grocery store.

I do understand that "My mask protects you, your mask protects me" and that masks do not protect the wearer ideally. But since many people STILL do not mask at all indoors (jerks), plus we know now that the virus can linger in the air longer than previously thought -- I want filters so I have a least a little more between me and the air in some locations.

What is a “proper filter?”

Amazon is full of small rectangular 2.5 mask filters that are made in china out of god knows what with zero safety or testing standards

google will tell you to cut up furnace or hepa filters, which again, were never meant to be anywhere near a human respiratory tract and have not been proven safe or effective to be used as something to breathe directly through, and many contain known harmful materials

only n95 masks have proven safety and filtration, but they are not accessible and not safe for wearing around campus 8 hours a day

Sorry. I didn't get into details but will: Any filter should NOT be absorbent like a tissue or paper towel. It should be of nonwoven material like some nonwoven fabrics and some "shop towels" are (as someone mentioned here earlier). I agree, there's no way to know about any filters, or masks, made in some random factory in China. But it's been pretty consistent from early on that nonwoven materials could be used as filters. I've seen furnace filters and vacuum bags mentioned but would not necessarily use them as some have fiberglass, or other fibers no one should breathe.

A LOT of sites have a million different masks now and many are crappy and it's difficult to navigate any official guidelines for masks (other than N95s) on any federal websites. I've tried. But I still want some form of filter many places, especially for my DC who will be inside at least some, enclosed, air-conditioned or heated buildings at college. And we know that the virus lingers in air, and that HVAC can spread it (look up the Chinese restaurant cluster early in the pandemic, where the flow of forced air in a restaurant directly contributed to spread).

If

[Anonymous]

Gap has 2 layers of all cotton with nose wire. My favorite are Auntikilljoy on Etsy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Masks from vistaprint and cut filters from material from filti. The colleges will have infected people, I would want a filtered mask in that environment.

I just know my ds will forget to remove the filters before throwing the masks in the wash! Ugh

I had the same thought. There’s just no way he is going to remove the filters before washing the masks, if he washes them at all.

Also, the mask protects other people, it does not protect the wearer, filter or not.

False. There’s mounting evidence that masks do protect the wearer. It’s kind of obvious anyway that they form a barrier (if imperfect). As my MIL who is a public health nurse married to a doctor, medical professionals have historically worn masks with patients and it’s not because they are protecting the patients (though in surgery they are).