N95 respirator explained: Here’s why health workers need them as coronavirus spreads

Respirators and masks have been big parts of the conversation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

As the coronavirus continues to spread, many people are looking for ways to protect themselves. Health care professionals also rely on these tools.

“N95 respirators and surgical masks (face masks) are examples of personal protective equipment that are used to protect the wearer from airborne particles and from liquid contaminating the face,” the FDA said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulate N95 respirators.

What is an N95 respirator?

The FDA says an N95 respirator is a device that’s designed to fit very close to the face and filter airborne particles efficiently.

The respirator can block at least 95% of very small particles and, if properly fitted, the filtration capabilities can exceed those of face masks, the FDA said. It doesn’t fully eliminate the risk or illness or death, though.

“Note that the edges of the respirator are designed to form a seal around the nose and mouth,” the FDA said. “Surgical N95 Respirators are commonly used in healthcare settings and are a subset of N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFRs), often referred to as N95s.”

How are they different from typical surgical masks?

N95 respirators are different from surgical masks because of the fit and the process they go through to get approved.

According to the CDC, surgical masks are loose-fitting and don’t require fit testing. Surgical masks are fluid resistant and provide protection against large droplets, splashes or sprays, and they protect the wearer’s respiratory emissions.

N95 respirators, on the other hand, also protect against small particles, unlike surgical masks.

Additionally, N95 respirators require a “user seal check” each time it’s put on. The two masks have slightly different use limitations, according to the CDC.

“Ideally should be discarded after each patient encounter and after aerosol-generating procedures,” the CDC said of N95 respirators. “It should also be discarded when it becomes damaged or deformed; no longer forms an effective seal to the face; becomes wet or visibly dirty; breathing becomes difficult; or if it becomes contaminated with blood, respiratory or nasal secretions, or other bodily fluids from patients.”

Are there N95 respirators available?

All face masks are becoming harder to find as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

N95 respirators are crucial for health care workers, and they’re becoming scarcer, according to USA Today. In some cases, they are even facing price gouging.

“I’ll contract with a company for 1,000 masks,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday in a briefing, according to the news outlet. “They’ll call back 20 minutes later and say, ‘The price just went up,’ because they had a better offer. I understand that. Other states who are desperate for these goods literally offer more money than we were paying. It’s a race that’s raising prices higher and higher.”

Some companies, however, are planning to produce millions of N95 masks for medical professionals.

Honeywell said earlier this week it would hire 500 new workers and will start producing millions of N95 masks within the next month, according to Axios. 3M, the largest producer of medical face masks in the U.S., also said it would increase its production of N95 masks during the coronavirus pandemic, Fox Business reported.

“We’ve more than doubled our capacity now in the U.S. out of 35 million respirators a month,” 3M CEO Mike Roman told Fox Business. “We are going to expand from there. We are going to double it again as we go through this year. That’s really the path to meeting that need on the frontline.”