Professor of bioengineering Manu Prakash, head of a laboratory at Stanford University (USA), last month returned from a holiday spent diving. Upon arriving home, the scientist came down with a bad cold and just in case sat in quarantine for two weeks. There he figured out how to alter a cheap mask for snorkeling in the means of individual protection for doctors opposing COVID-19.
On return to work, Prakash has organized a validation of the design to laboratory equipment and the results were beyond praise. An upgraded version called “Pneumask”, it consists of the mask and the medical filter. Today, 1,500 masks have been sent for further testing in field conditions, an additional 7,000 will be made in the near future.
The main advantage of masks Pneumask – they are reusable. And it is the masks and not respirators that facilitates their use – for example, due to the absence of the purification step. Simply change the filter and disinfect the mask, and you can work on.
About the cost Pneumask nothing is known, but its components is not difficult to find in sports and hardware stores.
Source — The Washington Post