Начало / Университетът / Факултети / Биологически факултет / Официални издания / Годишник на Софийския университет - КНИГА 4 Научни сесии на Биологическия факултет / Том 107, 2022 г. - Научна конференция "Климентови дни" - 2021 / - V. Tsvetkov et al. - STUDY OF COMMUNITY FACE COVERINGS AND COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE FACE MASKS USING A MODIFIED VIRAL FILTRATION METHOD

   

STUDY OF COMMUNITY FACE COVERINGS AND COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE FACE MASKS USING A MODIFIED VIRAL FILTRATION METHOD

 

V. TSVETKOV, D. TODOROV*, A. HINKOV, K. SHISHKOVA AND S. SHISHKOV

Laboratory of Virology, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria, Dragan Tsankov Blvd. 8, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
* Corresponding author: dani_todorov@biofac.uni-sofia.bg

 

Keywords: Aerosol, Epidemic, Personal protective equipment, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

 

Abstract: During the current COVID-19 Pandemic the humanity was faced with an increased need for an effective, cheap and available face mask to suppress the spread of the virus especially in the larger city communities. In a lot of them – homemade face masks were the only option due to the decrease of the supply chain worldwide. At the same time, a lot of fabric production facilities were diverted to the production of Personal protective equipment with variable quality. Even with no certification – the need and from there - the distribution of these products was high. In this situation research laboratories diverted their capacities into testing giving at least some information for the quality of the products. In this study, 15 different masks – both community face coverings and commercially available face masks, were tested for viral filtration efficacy (VFE). The results showed that even non-certified products can offer a good level of consumer protection, but also showed the need for some control over the small business that offers personal protection equipment (PPE) to the general public.

 

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