Mask with valves are risky, Centre cautions states

Tens of thousands of people who have taken to wearing masks with built-in valves to make breathing easy have been putting themselves, and those around them, in harm’s way when it comes to either preventing themselves from getting infected by the Coronavirus, or, in the event they are carrying it, from spreading it to others.

Worried over the rampant abuse of the masks by unscrupulous manufacturers promising easy breathing and ‘sweatless’ mask wearing, particularly of the N95 variety, the Centre has warned states to get cracking on such ‘valved respirators’.

In a letter, Director General of Health Services Dr Rajiv Garg told states that “the use of valved respirator N-95 masks is detrimental to the measures adopted for preventing the spread of the Coronavirus as it does not prevent the virus from escaping out of the mask.”

The Dr Garg said: “In view of the above, I request you to instruct all concerned to follow the use of face/mouth cover and prevent inappropriate use of N-95 masks.”

Instead of such masks, people can use reusable double-layered cloth masks manufactured from good quality tightly woven cloth.

They should be such they properly cover the nose and face and do not leave large gaps around it and fit the face of the user snugly.

Incidentally, many mask manufacturers, including some wellknown lifestyle brands, have been marketing normal pollution masks with the numbers ’95’ slapped on to the description of their products making it appear that their not so cheap products can actually help prevent people from breathing in the virus while claiming at the same time, their masks are for designed for pollution and help prevent in breathing in bacteria.