January 01, 2009
I have had so many questions this week about face masks for a pandemic. Since that seems to be what is on everyone’s mind this week I will try to answer the question: How many do I need?
There are several styles of N95 masks. Some are surgical masks which add more protection against bodily fluids such as sneezes, drooling or vomiting. It may be nice to have some of these but for use going out in public and most illness they are not necessary. Be sure any masks that you purchase have a metal bar so you can shape the mask to your nose thus providing more protection.
But, how many will you need? There is no right or wrong answer here, as we really have no way of knowing what your exact circumstances will be during a pandemic. You may self quarantine and stay healthy. You may self quarantine and someone in the family may become ill. You may have a profession that requires you to go to work each day. You may be the one to provide refuge for extended family who can not afford to prepare for themselves, can not care for themselves or live in an apartment where quarantine would be very difficult to survive. No one wants to be cooped up in an apartment for two – three months, especially with kids. Obviously I can not tell you what you will need. I can however provide some guidelines. Get out a paper and pencil…here goes.
You will need a new mask each time you leave the house. Masks will not need to be worn while you are in your own home except when caring for a patient. You should plan for at least a few trips to the store, if it is open, a few trips to the doctor’s office, and a few trips to check on family or friends. Plan for a mask for each family member who will be making these trips. Masks should be used only once and then thrown away in an outdoor trash can. You do not want the germs that you have been protected from, by wearing a mask, to contaminate a counter or car seat you place the used mask on, so, never reuse a mask. How many times a day do you see yourself or a family member running errands outside your home? Multiply that by seven (days a week) and then multiply by the number of weeks you are planning to self quarantine ( the government and experience in the 1918 pandemic leads us to estimate, 2-3 months) Example: Errands 3 ( errands a week) x 8 weeks = 24 masks OR 1 (errand a day) x 7 days per week = 7 7 x 8 (weeks) = 56 masks
Now, you will need a mask each time you enter a patient’s room. You will need about 6 per day for anyone providing care to someone who is ill. Each member of the family may become a patient at some point. A patient will be contagious for 4-5 days. Most times family members will become ill within a few days of each other and you will have multiple patients in one room. Calculating six masks per day per family member then becomes overkill. However, a pandemic always comes in waves. You can become ill during any or all of those waves, usually three. So try this: multiply 6 (masks per day) x 5 (days, contagious) x number of people in your family. Example: 6 (masks) x 5 (days) = 30 30×4 (family members) = 120. This number of masks should get you through two waves of a pandemic.
For those who will continue going to work you will need 3-4 masks per day. Remember you will discard the one you wore while traveling to work as soon as you get to your office. You will need one to wear going home, and you should plan on at least one extra in case you need to meet with someone outside of the office during the day or if someone in the office is ill, you will need to wear one for the entire time you are in the office. Example: 4 masks per day x 5 (work days per week) = 20 20×8 (weeks) = 160
Finally plan for your children. They will not be running errands but they may be accompanying you to the doctor or to care for a family member outside of your home. Add a few masks for the kids per week. Example: 3 (masks) x 3 (children) = 9 9×8 (weeks) = 72
Now add all of those together and you know what you should plan to store. I have heard 100-200 masks per person but as you can see that would be far too many for children and far too few for anyone going to a job and caring for a family member who is ill. I know this takes a little brain power but just follow the formulas and you shouldn’t have any problem figuring out what you need.
The price of masks is increasing as more and more people, including the government are becoming concerned about a pandemic. It can be very expensive to purchase these, so do a little at a time or team up with some friends and purchase in bulk to get a discount. During the outbreak of bird flu it was impossible to purchase masks so please do what you can now. Even a few masks will be better than none and if you find you have purchased too many they will not expire, and you can use them to barter during a crisis with those who have not prepared but may have fire wood or fruit on their trees that you could use.
Remember all masks should have an N95 rating.
On another topic: You have heard, I’m sure about the peanut butter recall. Aren’t we glad we have some in our food storage that we know is safe? Below is a link to the information about products that have been recalled.
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/salmonellatyph.html
I’ve read in several places that the actual flu virus is smaller than the pores on these masks. Yet the masks are still recommended because the virus is often passed in fluid secretions which are larger than the pores. Some, though, say the masks aren’t really effective, but are better than nothing (and are readily available). Can you comment on this? I’ve done a lot of research and it seems like the masks are worth purchasing, but that the users need to know that they don’t offer total protection (and other precautions should be taken because of this limited protection). What are your thoughts?
Last year I bought a box of N95 masks-medium size. I have a friend who is a nurse and she let me know that they come in sizes and that you need to buy the right size. I tried a masks on, my husband tried a mask on, his mother tried a mask on, and I had all of my children try on a mask. All of my children are now adults, and the medium size fit all of us. Then we had our four-year old grandchild try on a medium sized masks (since that was the only kind we had), and the masks was too large. It would not keep any viruses from entering his system. He needs a mask that is much smaller.
I went looking for bulk deals on the masks. According to your calculations (six in our family), we would need over 500 masks, but 72 would need to be child sized. I cannot find any disposable children’s masks, but I did find one that can be washed, with new filters put in each time. It is rated to N94, not N95, but has no gaps like the bigger masks would on small kids (my kids are 2,5, 10 and 12 – the 12 year old is adult sized, but the 10 year old is very petite). Have you found anything for kids?
I have been thinking exactly what you posted about the peanut butter recall. Yeah! I have lots of peanut butter in my food storage that is good! One of the many blessing we get when we are prepared!
I have never found masks for kids. I have been told taping them to the face is the preferred way but this sounds awful to me. I have some bandannas stored and we are planning to have the kids tie a bandanna over the mask to hold it down. We’ll just tell them we are playing bad guys and good guy and they get to be the bad guys. I know this isn’t perfect but if anyone has a better idea I’d love to hear it. As far as storing masks is concerned it is the recommendation of the World Health Organization and every health organization I know. Cities and hospitals are all storing masks and as long as they say it will help I will store. They may not be 100% effective but they are absolutely better than nothing. We really don’t know what the “size” of the pandemic germ is until it arrives. Mutations can not be predicted. Last year we thought Tamiflu was the answer to a treatment and now it has become resistant to the H5N1 strain so we really need to wait and see. I say stock masks and if you never need them use them for people with allergies or have some great mad scientist birthday parties for the kids. They really don’t have to go to waste. We are all hoping we never need them.
After reading through the article, I just feel that I really need more info. Could you share some more resources please?
I know my bacon for breakfast! And I m not gonna restrain eating it! Flu is airborn virus if you cook meat it dies!
The HIV vaccine has been submitted for approval to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin human toxicology tests and two phases of TCM trials in the United States.
Wow! Didn’t know you needed more than one for work. Thanks for the info.
So what’s the difference between the 95 and 99 masks?
Actually, I’m pretty sure there’s a kind of N95 respirator that you can wear for 24 hours.. definitely something to consider.