Comparison of homemade mask designs based on calculated infection risk, using actual COVID-19 infection scenarios
During pandemics such as COVID-19, shortages of approved respirators necessitate the use of alternative masks, including homemade designs. The effectiveness of the masks is often quantified in terms of the ability to filter particles. However, to formulate public policy the efficacy of the mask in r...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AIMS Press
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/mbe.2023663?viewType=HTML |
| _version_ | 1797749162937155584 |
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| author | Shayna Berman Gavin D'Souza Jenna Osborn Matthew Myers |
| author_facet | Shayna Berman Gavin D'Souza Jenna Osborn Matthew Myers |
| author_sort | Shayna Berman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During pandemics such as COVID-19, shortages of approved respirators necessitate the use of alternative masks, including homemade designs. The effectiveness of the masks is often quantified in terms of the ability to filter particles. However, to formulate public policy the efficacy of the mask in reducing the risk of infection for a given population is considerably more useful than its filtration efficiency (FE). The effect of the mask on the infection profile is complicated to estimate as it depends strongly upon the behavior of the affected population. A recently introduced tool known as the dynamic-spread model is well suited for performing population-specific risk assessment. The dynamic-spread model was used to simulate the performance of a variety of mask designs (all used for source control only) in different COVID-19 scenarios. The efficacy of different masks was found to be highly scenario dependent. Switching from a cotton T-shirt of 8% FE to a 3-layer cotton-gauze-cotton mask of 44% FE resulted in a decrease in number of new infections of about 30% in the New York State scenario and 60% in the Harris County, Texas scenario. The results are valuable to policy makers for quantifying the impact upon the infection rate for different intervention strategies, e.g., investing resources to provide the community with higher-filtration masks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:16:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-405631566620431f8bfba26b9d2815f7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1551-0018 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:16:17Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | AIMS Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-405631566620431f8bfba26b9d2815f72023-08-09T01:12:08ZengAIMS PressMathematical Biosciences and Engineering1551-00182023-07-01208178111482610.3934/mbe.2023663Comparison of homemade mask designs based on calculated infection risk, using actual COVID-19 infection scenariosShayna Berman 0Gavin D'Souza1Jenna Osborn 2Matthew Myers3Division of Applied Mechanics, U. S. FDA/CDRH, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring 20993, MD, USADivision of Applied Mechanics, U. S. FDA/CDRH, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring 20993, MD, USADivision of Applied Mechanics, U. S. FDA/CDRH, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring 20993, MD, USADivision of Applied Mechanics, U. S. FDA/CDRH, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring 20993, MD, USADuring pandemics such as COVID-19, shortages of approved respirators necessitate the use of alternative masks, including homemade designs. The effectiveness of the masks is often quantified in terms of the ability to filter particles. However, to formulate public policy the efficacy of the mask in reducing the risk of infection for a given population is considerably more useful than its filtration efficiency (FE). The effect of the mask on the infection profile is complicated to estimate as it depends strongly upon the behavior of the affected population. A recently introduced tool known as the dynamic-spread model is well suited for performing population-specific risk assessment. The dynamic-spread model was used to simulate the performance of a variety of mask designs (all used for source control only) in different COVID-19 scenarios. The efficacy of different masks was found to be highly scenario dependent. Switching from a cotton T-shirt of 8% FE to a 3-layer cotton-gauze-cotton mask of 44% FE resulted in a decrease in number of new infections of about 30% in the New York State scenario and 60% in the Harris County, Texas scenario. The results are valuable to policy makers for quantifying the impact upon the infection rate for different intervention strategies, e.g., investing resources to provide the community with higher-filtration masks.https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/mbe.2023663?viewType=HTMLcovid-19sir modelinfection-spread modelfacemaskdynamic-spread model |
| spellingShingle | Shayna Berman Gavin D'Souza Jenna Osborn Matthew Myers Comparison of homemade mask designs based on calculated infection risk, using actual COVID-19 infection scenarios Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering covid-19 sir model infection-spread model facemask dynamic-spread model |
| title | Comparison of homemade mask designs based on calculated infection risk, using actual COVID-19 infection scenarios |
| title_full | Comparison of homemade mask designs based on calculated infection risk, using actual COVID-19 infection scenarios |
| title_fullStr | Comparison of homemade mask designs based on calculated infection risk, using actual COVID-19 infection scenarios |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparison of homemade mask designs based on calculated infection risk, using actual COVID-19 infection scenarios |
| title_short | Comparison of homemade mask designs based on calculated infection risk, using actual COVID-19 infection scenarios |
| title_sort | comparison of homemade mask designs based on calculated infection risk using actual covid 19 infection scenarios |
| topic | covid-19 sir model infection-spread model facemask dynamic-spread model |
| url | https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/mbe.2023663?viewType=HTML |
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