He spoke to CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta about resuming his job during the century’s most challenging health crisis.
Tsai patented the technology used to make the masks in 1995.
Is that how it works: To block up to 95% of the particles that come into contact with the mask, Tsai made the filters using the corona electrostatic charge method. Simply put, the mask filter contains both positive and negative charges. It can attract neutral particles, like virus bacteria, and polarize those particles, trapping them before they can pass through the mask.
He tried a variety of methods: He left the masks in the sun, put them in the oven, washed them with soap, and steamed them, he said.
He found that the best method was to keep the masks in dry 160 degree heat for 30 minutes, which can be done by hanging them in an oven.
But that’s not his preferred method, he told Gupta: He recommends buying seven N95 masks and rotating them, using a new one every day. After wearing a mask, she hangs it in an isolated spot and doesn’t wear it again for seven days, making the bacteria it traps dormant.
But people should wear masks in public, even if they are not N95 respirators, Tsai told Gupta.
“Some people said, ‘I don’t care. I don’t need to wear a mask,'” he said. “That is very selfish because you expose your germs to other people. So any mask is good.”
CNN’s Madeleine Thompson contributed to this report.
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