Breathing clean air is as important to your health as drinking clean water. N95s are personal air filters, and they can help protect you from particulate air pollution from wood smoke, and much more. @capublichealth.bsky.social is doing a great job with their public health messaging.

Yeah, that feeling when someone right next to you starts wet coughing over and over, and you wish you were wearing a mask? You wouldn't have that feeling if you had already put on a mask before going indoors around other people during an uptick in infection. Well-fitted N95s etc. work.

Congratulations to OpenAeros on the release of this evolutionary open source instrument. Lab-grade results with open source flexibility and accountability, all at a lower cost that current CPCs in its class. Someday I hope to get my hands on one :-)

Aaron Collins & the team at OpenAeros have announced the OpenCPC, a continuous duty sub-micron particle counter that is open source. At $5,000 it is much cheaper than closed source models. youtu.be/2OGohkAd2Cg Open source instrumentation fundamental to making science more accesable.

Should you trust N95s to fit well past their expiration date? Depends on the specific model and storage conditions, including how they were stored before you got them and have no way of knowing. This study fit tested stockpiled masks that were from 9 to 13 years old. www.cdc.gov/niosh/media/...

Amazon has been selling giant boxes of 440 3M Auras as low $27. That's 440 masks for super cheap. But can they really be any good? I bought a case & measured the properties & performance compared to Auras from other sources as part of my Kanro grant for testing respiratory protection Video link ⬇️

You know how styrofoam peanuts cling to a statically charged balloon? You can make a solid puck of plastic that does the same thing, but stays permanently charged - it's an "electret," the static charge equivalent of a permanent magnet.

Notoriously thin-skinned pro-Covid doctor Vinay Prasad has gotten YouTube to terminate a critic's entire YouTube Channel by using multiple copyright strikes as a tool of censorship. @mmasnick.bsky.social has been warning us about this type of abuse of copyright for years.

Can you tell scam respirator ads on Facebook from legit ones? I checked out if the fan powered respirator in this ad by PekeSafety is a total scam, an awesome deal, or somewhere in between. Video link in next comment.

This is getting out of hand.

Don't get fooled! If you search for "3M Full Face Respirator" on Home Depot's website you'll get fakes and non-NIOSH masks. Weirdly, Home Depot doesn't sell full face 3M respirators, but instead of just saying so you get 1,414 results. The 1st is a fake 3M mask - a generic knock off of a 3M 6800.

Remember back when a bunch of people got discounted new CleanSpace2 PAPRs from Fisher Scientific, but they were all DOA because the non-replaceable batteries self-discharged in storage and permanently died? www.reddit.com/r/Masks4All/... Well, CleanSpace now has a fix for that: It's your problem.

Does a beard really reduce respirator fit? Yes. Check out this video by Pro Safety and Training in Australia. They fit tested a bearded employee, Dan, before and after shaving. The difference in mask seal is massive. youtube.com/watch?v=dCWo...

**Can you** wear a respirator over a beard? Yes. **Should you**? No. You can get some protection from a respirator over a beard, but you won't get the full protection the respirator is capable of, the protection you bought it for to protect your health. youtube.com/shorts/EA-ZK...

Don't use this CPAP muffler. It sheds aluminum shards. (Video link in the next comment.) CPAP mufflers like this one are supposed to quiet the output of noisy travel CPAPs Amazon sent me this one to review. There are two issues to be aware of - metal fragments, and pressure drop.

Good quality nose wires are the "secret" to tri-fold masks that fit me. The same exact mask can fit great or leak terribly depending on how good the nose wire is. I tested nose wires from 4 masks to see how well they work. Video link in the next comment.

How strong is the nose wire in a 3M Aura? That's a 248g of weight hanging off of a 3M 9205+ Aura nose wire placed across 65 mm span — over a half pound of weight with barely any noticeable deflection. The conformable but strong 3M nose wires are one of the reasons many 3M N95s fit me well.

All N95s can and do filter viruses, whether or not they say so on the box. N95s are particulate filters. Airborne viruses and respiratory droplets are particulates. The manual for 3M Aura N95s specifically mentions that they can filter viruses, aka "help reduce inhalation exposures".

Testing the Forged Air Respirator - the good and the bad of outside of the box design and engineering. Its big, flat filter is like a Flo Mask on steroids. The large surface area filter gets you good breathability and speech intelligibility.

Why do N95s work? Cooper the cat shows us how. Electrostatic attraction. It works really well at attracting and capturing particles. N95 filter media is electrostatically charged, making it very efficient at grabbing even ultra-fine particles out of the air.

Why did the Medihealer brand in-line CPAP filters filter so poorly compared to the other filters I tested? I used a static charge meter to find out.

Most respirators on Amazon are knockoffs - superficially convincing cosmetic copies of NIOSH approved brand name originals, but without the quality control and trustworthiness. Can you spot the fake in these top 5 results for "Respirator" on Amazon?

Can you get respirator-grade air filtration with in-line CPAP filters? Maybe, if you know the right ones. --Video link in the next comment-- Amazon gave me a bunch to test, and I bought some of my own. But they don't come with any kind of rating the way masks do, like N95 or P100.

I'm glad that the black Project 3 Trident FFP3 masks have the potential to work for many people. That being said, the strap tension on the Project 3 masks is very high, too high for many people. So, I would still like to see 3M make the black Aura tri-fold that we've all been asking for.

Finally! Nice looking black tri-fold respirator masks that perform as well as 3M Auras, the Project 3 Trident FFP3s. I tested them with a PortaCount and a force gauge. The masks fit and filter on me well, but the straps are very tight, more so than I find comfortable.

Fan vs. PAPR A while ago someone asked if strong winds could affect the protection of a loose fitting Powered Air Purifying Respirator (a PAPR). So I got a 4,000 cfm fan that blows at around 15 mph and stuck my face in it while I wore a Honeywell North 700 soft top PAPR.

Can you replace a big expensive CPAP machine with a thumb-sized micro CPAP? I tested both to find out. Amazon sent me an "anti-snoring" / "micro CPAP" device to review, one of many they sell. Seems sketchy, but I don't want to assume... youtube.com/shorts/l3vJx...

Can you trust respirator ads on Facebook? Heck no, but I bought the PuriCurrent mini fan powered respirator anyway to find out if it's any good.

When correcting false information on social media, make sure your correction is more visible and more compelling than the quote or image of the information you are correcting. Most people skim social media, so they will see the big false info and not the tiny text correcting it.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com Three Yale professors who have written extensively on authoritarianism are leaving the U.S. “We’re like people on the Titanic saying our ship can’t sink,” Marci Shore said. “And what you know as a historian is that there is no such thing as a ship that can’t sink.”

goBU have replied to my review of their humidity mask on Reddit. reddit.com/r/Masks4All/... They don't think the goBU should be compared to respirators. You can read their criticism and my reply at the link.

I took a quick look at some UV sanitizers Amazon sent me for review. Remember when these were a thing early in the pandemic, but some or most of them were fake? Yeah, that's still happening. youtube.com/shorts/jI3In...

Nearly all of remaining staff at CDC's NIOSH received lay off notices today, we're told This is an org chart shared with us illustrating eliminated divisions to date Cuts had already upended approvals of new N95 respirators and probes of firefighter injuries www.cbsnews.com/news/worker-...

Study debunks the idea that people using CPAP machines output more infectious particles than people breathing normally. Knowing this helps us target resources and safety protocols more usefully, or it would if hospitals concentrated on reducing aerosol transmission overall to protect everyone.

Respirators retain heat and humidity which can make them hot and stuffy, it's considered a bug. But goBU decided to take that bug and turn it into a feature. The goBU is distributed by ArmbrustUSA. It retains humidity on purpose, so you can breathe comfortably in dry air, and does nothing else.

Most tri-fold masks I try don't pass a fit test on me. The WellBefore 3D Pro KN95 is the first earloop tri-fold I've tested that fits me well enough to pass an N95 mode PortaCount fit test. I compared the 3D Pro to a 3M aura using PortaCount Mask fit testing machines. youtube.com/shorts/B7sQW...

Now that the NIOSH testing laboratory has been axed, how can you tell if a filter is genuine NIOSH or if it's fake? Sometimes, when you are lucky, there are signs... This is a knockoff of a 3M 2097 P100 filter. The manufacturer has copied the appearance of the original except for the 3M logo.

This has importance way outside CS/ML. If you ask why DOGE employees believe it’s smart to gut NSF and NIH, I’m afraid the answer is that they’ve bought a story where technical progress can proceed mostly decoupled from scientific knowledge.

This is what we are losing when the government axed NIOSH and its National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory: A 10 year plan "focused on novel hazards, PPE shortages, and advancing nationwide PPE expertise and capabilities"

Need a high filtration respirator that lets people see and hear you really clearly? I tested the MaxAir Cuff powered respirator for filtration and speech intelligibility. youtu.be/Etwbxid02sA

1/ Remember how during the height of Covid the rightwing info space claimed it was due to an intentional lab leak? Guess what: in WCGW (Whar Could Go Wrong?) news, the Dep't of Defense is considering cutting up to 75% of workers who stop the spread of chemical, biological, & nuclear weapons.

The Elastomask Pro remains one of the most breathable N95 rated masks I've tested. And now it is affordable enough to try without having to make a big investment.

A big price drop on the @Microclimate Air3 PAPR HE. It's now $549, down from $999. This brings the NIOSH approved Air3 down to the price of other all-in-one PAPRs you can buy at Amazon or on-line, but with much higher filtration and performance.

Is the new Air3 Powered Air Purifying Respirator from Microclimate worth the wait? It's the 3d generation of the iconic space helmet-style design, and thanks to Microclimate sending me one to review I got a chance to test it to see what 5 years of development have created. youtu.be/NjcfwxIa7lY

Just got this. I'll be doing a review soon.

Do clear face masks work? I tested 4 clear panel face masks with a fit testing machine to see if they fit and filtered as well as a regular N95. The results were mixed, but one mask stood out to me, the Optrel P.Air Clear. youtu.be/JDuwPISMl1o

If you've gotten this ad for the Respiray wearable air purifier on Facebook you may have wondered why these numbers don't seem to match up. Why would 99.9% filtration only improve symptoms by 46%?

MicroClimate has announced the March 10th release of their Air 3 loose fitting powered air purifying respirator (PAPR). www.facebook.com/MicroClimate...

Why is Respiray doing this? Do they really think that the anti-science MAHA crowd are in the market for wearable personal air purifiers? This seems like a very ill considered marketing campaign that will alienate people actually interested in their product.

Love the Look Studios sent me some updated fabric covers for 3M Aura N95s This cover worked very well for me when I tested it out at a wedding I attended as a guest, covering the mask extremely well and staying out of my eyes. I wore it over a 3M 9210+ which has white braided elastic straps.