Fireflies to offer Facemasks and N95 Respirators

SKV89

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Dec 10, 2017
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While chatting with Fireflies, Jack was very kind to offer some face masks to include in my package. I asked if he can find some Level 3 or N95 face masks and offer them on his website, which would help so many people where facemasks and respirators, especially real Level 3 and N95 rated ones, are near impossible to find or extremely expensive due to supply and demand. The price is only going to go up at a very rapid rate given the world wide shortage.


He agreed to help and said he would like to do this to lend a hand to the world wide situation and not profit off of it. But I said given the time and effort he put into this and a family to feed it is justifiable to at least price this to cover the labor and overhead.


He searched around and talked to various sources and ended up ordering some samples from different manufacturers. He's also asking for advice on ways to test them to make sure they are legit. Not sure if he will be able to test them as it seems hard to do without professional equipment. But he is talking to a contact that organized a large group donation to Wuhan that can point him to the right direction.


He told me he just sourced the very last 205 pieces of FFP2 N95 respirators from Russia and he is considering stocking some in the Calfornia warehouse for fast delivery to us.


Not sure when it will be on the Fireflies store but you can contact him directly for details. I would much rather buy these from FF than from random sellers on Amazon, Ebay, and Aliexpress where they can label the masks with any rating (e.g., $10 100,000 lumen flashlights).
 

SKV89

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Dec 10, 2017
Messages
573
Update from Fireflies after testing his samples:
6 KN95 masks from difference manufacture — 2 fake , 2 low quality , 2 high quality. Damn it! The manufacture produces fake masks should go to hell

They can now be purchased from Fireflies webstore. From what I understand, there are still more samples they are testing before adding them, which includes child masks.
 

SKV89

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Just to let people know, any face mask/filtration is better than none. In countries where there are adequate face masks or shortage is not severe, the recommendation from their gov is for public to wear face masks. Only in countries where face masks and respirators are severely lacking, the gov recommends for the public not to wear face masks.

The US Surgeon General and US CDC is telling people that are not healthcare providers (HCP) to not wear face masks claiming it is useless for prevention and actually increases chance of transmission and all we need to do for prevention is to frequently wash our hands with soap. One of their justifications for this official guideline is because of their claim that COVID-19 is not airborne.


The whole logic of respiratory protection is only effective for HCP but not general public (including hospital staff not directly caring for COVID-19 patients) does not make sense, especially when it is proven that wearing respiratory protection will reduce the chance of contracting respiratory viruses. Given the CDC's recent extremely poor credibility in topics related to COVID-19, we can easily see that the reason they are pushing the lie that wearing facemask is not effective and can even increase transmission is simply scare tactics to prevent common people from buying up respiratory protection. Though I don't blame CDC since they are lying with good intention because we need to give our healthcare workers first priority.


The U.S. National Institutes of Health just confirmed that COVID-19 stays airborne through aerosol for 3 hours.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-and-on-surfaces-for-days-study-idUSKBN2143QP


Here is further proof that viral transmissions can be spread through the air. This is just one study that shows influenza, a similar respiratory viral infection can be spread through exhaled infectious aerosols, (viral particles exhaled simply by breathing, talking, singing, or via coughing). These micron sized particles can remain suspended in enclosed spaces and also carried by ventilation systems, which potentially expose everyone who breathes in this same air, such as in stores, fitness centers, hospital and medical clinic waiting areas, churches, schools, concerts, buses, airports, airplanes, and so on.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320690


The Sars Coronavirus in 2003 was found to be transmitted through building mechanical ventilation systems.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004.00317.x
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15737151


Europe even has a guide on how to operate building HVAC systems to prevent the spread of COVID-19
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-03/erc-hto031920.php


Until someone can explain why SARS Coronavirus and Influenza is spread through exhaled breath and through building ventilation systems, and Sars Coronavirus 2 (COVID-19) cannot, I would say we should play it safe especially in enclosed spaces. China asked everyone to wear mask and their success in getting this contained is proof they aren't simply a bunch of idiots. The real reason I see for the different guidance between the US and China is that there is a severe mask shortage in the US whereas China had or could produce enough to meet demand.

"The federal government's Strategic National Stockpile of medical supplies includes 12 million medical-grade N95 masks and 30 million surgical masks — only about one percent of the 3.5 billion that the Department of Health and Human Services estimates would be needed over the course of a year if the outbreak reaches pandemic levels."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/health/coronavirus-n95-face-masks.html


Per NYTimes, "the vice president has called on construction companies to donate masks, the surgeon general has urged the public to stop buying them, and experts have warned that, the more doctors and nurses who get sick, the greater strain on a system already stretched thin... Now, doctors, nurses and others are rallying on social media... that members of the public reach out to a nearby hospital if they had masks or other medical equipment to donate"
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/hospitals-coronavirus-ppe-shortage.html


Another study posted on CDC says, "Results of our study have global relevance to respiratory disease control planning, especially with regard to home care. During an influenza pandemic, supplies of antiviral drugs may be limited, and there will be unavoidable delays in the production of a matched pandemic vaccine (31). For new or emerging respiratory virus infections, no pharmaceutical interventions may be available. Even with seasonal influenza, widespread oseltamivir resistance in influenza virus A (H1N1) strains have recently been reported (32). Masks may therefore play an important role in reducing transmission."
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/15/2/08-1167_article


CDC says, "A surgical mask or fit-tested respirator should be worn by healthcare personnel who are within 6 feet of a suspected or laboratory-confirmed influenza patient. A respirator can be selected when antiviral medication supplies are expected to be limited and influenza vaccine is not available, e.g., during a pandemic"
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncontrol/maskguidance.htm


CDC says, "HCP should don a facemask when entering the room of a patient with suspected or confirmed influenza. Remove the facemask when leaving the patient's room, dispose of the facemask in a waste container, and perform hand hygiene."
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncontrol/healthcaresettings.htm


In the most recent updated official guidelines for dealing with mask shortages, the CDC now even recommends that medical professionals "might use homemade masks (e.g., bandana, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort" if other equipment is not available.
https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-recommends-health-workers-use-bandanas-face-masks-crisis-2020-3
 
Last edited:

bigburly912

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SKV without getting too far into what you wrote, masks are more important for healthcare workers because healthcare workers are still dealing with a lot more than just covid and they need to protect themselves and patients from the other diseases they are around. They are still seeing regular patients as well as covid patients.
 

SKV89

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 10, 2017
Messages
573
Here are the spec comparisons of the different facemask/respirator ratings:
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/comparison-mask-standard-rating-effectiveness/
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media...filtering-facepiece-respirator-classes-tb.pdf
https://www.crosstex.com/sites/defa...0face20mask20selection20and20use20-202017.pdf


As explained in my previous posts, the US NIH and Chinese experts already confirmed the virus is airborne and can remain infectious in the air for at least 3 hours. This means US CDC's recommendation for non health care professionals to not wear respiratory protection is not good advice as their reason is the virus is not airborne. Currently only countries with extreme shortage of facemasks/respirators are telling the public not to wear facemasks.


The good news is that any filtration is better than no filtration. Here is a test showing effectiveness of different material at filtering 0.02 micron particle sizes. This is much smaller than coronavirus that averages 0.125 micron. This shows even a cotton shirt wrapped around your face will significantly reduce the viral concentration you inhale.
Mask-Materials-Effectiveness-0.02-Microns-EN-1024x789.jpg

What Are The Best Materials for Making DIY Masks?




10.png

8.png

The above images are results from two separate studies showing N95 respirators and Surgical Mask performs the same in preventing respiratory virus infections.




main-qimg-655a7199deb78df61cb7af70de12b9c6

This article explores the question of whether wearing masks can stop the spread of the Coronavirus. It includes a study that shows adults taking care of children with flu at home reduces infection by 75% by wearing either surgical mask or N95.




4-EN.jpg

This article compares the filtration effectiveness of different material at filtering 0.007 micron particles, which is MUCH SMALLER than coronavirus.




DIY-Mask-Effectiveness-3-Hours-EN-1024x696.jpg

This test compares filtration effectiveness against virus sized particles (0.02 to 1 micron) of homemade mask, surgical mask, and N95 respirator.
 

SKV89

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Joined
Dec 10, 2017
Messages
573
SKV without getting too far into what you wrote, masks are more important for healthcare workers because healthcare workers are still dealing with a lot more than just covid and they need to protect themselves and patients from the other diseases they are around. They are still seeing regular patients as well as covid patients.

Agree 100%. Good thing is we can make our own respiratory protection.

Honestly, what I don't understand is if even we commoners can buy PPE from China, why can't our gov? CDC just revised their COVID-19 guidelines to tell health care professionals to use bandannas and scarfs when out of face masks. I'm planning to buy a bunch from Fireflies and donate to the hospital my wife works at.
 

SKV89

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Dec 10, 2017
Messages
573
"COVID-19 is known to be AIRBORNE. China, Italy, and South Korea know it. The World Health Organization knows it. Studies conducted in America have shown it can be airborne for up to 3 hours. Our CDC knew it was airborne when it first started to be addressed in our country as they listed it as such on their website. Within 24 hours, they had downgraded their precaution guidelines from airborne to droplet, to reflect the paltry supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) available for healthcare workers."

This article is a MUST READ to understand the truth behind the no mask guideline/policy. Telling the public not to wear masks and not allowing hospital staff (except directly caring for "identified" COVID patients) to wear face masks puts us all in great danger.
 

hariskhan

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Aug 10, 2020
Messages
2
N95 are expensive no doubt. But they offers the best protection and there is nothing beyond your health.
 
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