Hellobee Boards

Have you heard about Happy Masks? They’re reuseable/washable, and they have a really protective filter and nice shape so that there’s a pretty good seal. The only downsides are 1) they’re pretty expensive and 2) they’re in high demand. You can join the waitlist and you can probably order in the next week or two when you get the notification that it’s your turn. I have Happy Masks for the kids and for myself - really excellent!

Agree with @JJ2626; we wear our KF94 masks for 40 hours. For the kids (who wear theirs all day), we rotate through about 5 masks. We put them back in their packaging at the end of the day, write the date on the package, and then use it again about a week later. I WFH, so I just rotate through a few until they seem gross or lose their shape at the nose. (I wear glasses so I am often fiddling with the nose piece to get a better seal.)

There's a guy that's quoted in a lot of press who is an aerosol scientist. That's how I found out you can re-wear the KF94s. he did some testing with higher quality reusable masks that might interest you. https://twitter.com/masknerd

@ineebee: Just FYI - the Happy Masks didn't do very well in the Mask Nerd tests: https://twitter.com/masknerd/status/1445044628948914177/photo/1

@hitchhiker: Thanks for the info. I don’t follow this guy and don’t understand the terminology of his test, but it sounds like after washing, some measure of effectiveness is compromised? Bummer.

@meadow: @hitchhiker: Totally agree in general about Amazon. I looked into before I bought and these are legit: [20 Pack] Dr.Puri New Micro-Dust Protection Face Premium Mask (KF94) White Medium https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N6721WY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_QKJ4WDA66P0HJ07M0AVA?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

But, also agree that behealthy.net has lots of options. I think happy masks are great if you want better than cloth but it’s not a super high risk situation. Enro masks are another option for this. My kid wears happy masks bc no kn95 seems fit her right, but she’s barely ever inside (outdoor preschool) And for a kid, I think something imperfect is better than nothing.

By paper masks do you mean the blue surgical masks? I don’t think they’re really much better, from what I’m seeing, because they have so many gaps. I’ve read that you can basically wear the KN95 masks, though, until they wear out, I’ve seen a few people say that the elastic will wear out before the masks stop being effective.

@meadow: @erinbaderin: yes, surgical masks are definitely better because of the middle layer being less porous than most cloth materials.

Fit is an issue with all masks. Surgical masks are more adjustable, IMHO, at least compared to the floppy, ill-fitting cloth masks I see the majority of my students wearing (I don't see any adults wearing masks). Surgical masks are adjustable along the nose bridge and it's usually easier to tie the earloops to get a tighter fit. If you have well-fitting cloth masks, great, but they're no match for Omicron (neither were they for Delta.....)

KN95s and KF94s are great, but expensive. I personally like the design of KF94s best.