With the worldwide spread of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020, shortages of surgical masks and filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) masks became a critical problem. European governments recommended that civilians should not use these masks so that the shortages in the hospitals would be minimised. In Europe, civilians were instead advised to wear community face coverings. In June 2020, the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) published CWA 17553:2020 [1–3] which formalised minimum requirements, methods of testing and use of community face coverings. The CWA 17553 is presently only a recommendation, and not an official standard such as the EN14683 standard for surgical masks or the EN149 standard for filtering facepiece respirators. Because there are different performance requirements for these three different classes of masks, it makes comparing their performance challenging. In this work, we perform particulate filtration efficiency measurement, total inward leakage measurement and breathability measurement on a range of surgical masks, filtering facepiece respirators and community face coverings. This analysis provides a useful comparison between material performance and the effectiveness of a mask’s design which is manufactured from this material.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an immense and unforeseen increase in demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers worldwide. Amongst other products, respirator masks are crucial to protect the users against transmission of the virus. Decontamination and reuse of the existing stock could be a solution to the shortage of new respirators. Based upon existing studies, it was found that (I) a solid quality control method is essential to test product reuse, (II) in-depth evaluation of the different parts of the filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) should be considered, and (III) communication of the reuse cycle is essential to take track of the amount of reuse, as this is limited to ensure quality. The goal of this paper is two-fold. First, we identify the impact of decontamination on the different parts of the FFRs and how the quality control should be performed. Two different types of FFRs are analysed within this paper, resulting in the recommendation of combining quantitative respirator mask fit testing with a thorough sensory evaluation of decontaminated FFRs to qualify them for reuse. Secondly, the possibilities of communication of this reuse to the eventual user are mapped through in-depth reasoning.