Respirators are more effective than surgical masks to protect against infection – here’s how they work and who should wear them

રા Samara Hayes / Getty Images
Inhalers like N95 face masks are needed to protect health care workers from illness. Samara Hayes / Getty Images

• Respirators work to protect health care and emergency workers from inhaling chemicals or infectious particles.
• Respirators such as N95 face masks are more effective than surgical masks in preventing the spread of disease – and they should be used by health care workers who deal with sick patients.
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Respirators, commonly known as face masks, are intended to protect health care and emergency workers from chemicals and infectious particles.

Surgical masks can be helpful if you are sick, as they prevent the wearer from spreading to other people. If you are a health care worker, and want to protect yourself from receiving an illness or breathing in other hazardous particles, a respirator will be more effective.

Here you need to know about the different types of respirators, how they work and who needs them.

How Respiratory Functions Work

A respirator is a device that covers your nose and mouth and protects you from inhaling dangerous gaseous substances such as chemicals or infectious particles.

There are different types of respirators for different scenarios, including the following:

• Escape Respirators, Intended for use only in emergencies, such as the release of fire or chemical vapors. These respirators are meant to protect you when you go to safety and are usually designed for short-term use up to an hour.
• Gas mask, Which purifies the chemical gas from the air while you breathe. Gas mask cartridges filter certain biological or chemical substances, but there are no cartridges that protect you from all substances, so a gas mask is only effective for the crisis you are facing.
• Powered Air Purification Respirators (PAPR) Use filters similar to gas masks, but make breathing easier by using a fan to blow air through the filter.
• Cancer respirator It will protect you from particles, gases or vapors but not from particles. For example, health care workers use the N95 mask, which cleans the air while breathing and protects you from infectious particles such as coronavirus.

Strict respirators protect health care workers

Like the commonly seen N95 face masks, resuscitators help protect health care workers from breathing in infectious particles when they are infected while treating patients. They have been particularly important during coronavirus outbreaks.

“The N95 mask helps filter out coronavirus particles so health care professionals don’t inhale them,” says Emergency Medicine Physician and Critical Care Medicine Specialist and Intern at Providence St. John’s Health Center.

In addition to the shortage of medical devices such as ventilators, many hospitals across the country are experiencing a shortage of personal protective equipment such as these N95 masks, putting health care workers at risk.

In New York, some doctors are reusing N95 respirators by storing them in bags and then putting them back on. Specifically, this mask is intended for one-time use and doctors use a new one for each patient’s interaction.

Respirators are needed to keep health care workers safe, but Centers for Disease Control (CDC) does not recommend the use of respirators or N95 masks for the general public. Instead, the CDC recommends staying home as much as possible, washing your hands frequently and avoiding touching your face.