Kn95 is a filtering facepiece respirator designed to protect people from hazardous bacteria and viruses. It is approved in China as one of the facemasks used amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Apparently, due to the crisis, Kn95 is in limited supply. Fortunately, some guidelines dictate how to use and clean these facemasks for safety. However, to prevent the escalation of coronavirus effects, health practitioners recommend total discard and replacement of Kn95 or any other personal protective equipment. Cleaning a Kn95 facemask is a good option, mainly due to their urgent demands. However, before doing any cleaning on your protective gear, you should scrutinize the type of cleaning method to prevent the facemask from losing its quality, and eventually, its ability to prevent the entry of bacteria or viruses.
How to Wash Kn95
The method you intend to use to clean your Kn95 mask must pass the following tests before it is given the go-ahead:
Viral load: The method should have the ability to decontaminate the mask by destroying possible viral load in the mask.
Mask fit: Facemasks prevent up to 95% of harmful pathogens from finding their way into your body. They are made to properly fit on our faces to safeguard your mouth and noses. Cleaning might, however, loosen them, exposing you to danger. A suitable cleaning method is, therefore, necessary to maintain the quality of masks.
Mechanism Ability: Mechanism ability means the mask’s ability to prevent the entry of foreign harmful substances. Such mechanism includes filtration capacity and ionic charge needed to keep away unwanted materials. The cleaning method must not interfere with the mechanical abilities of the mask.
Exposure: The chosen cleaning method must not expose the mask to other external substances such as oil, soil, or any other elements with chemicals.
If you don’t want to wash, You could buy a new KN95 Mask online.
The following are ways and steps on how to wash your Kn95 facemask.
Cleaning Using Hydrogen Peroxide: Hydrogen peroxide is widely known as one of the best disinfectants and can be an excellent decontaminator for Kn95 masks. A small amount of vaporized hydrogen peroxide is enough to efficiently clean facemasks. Studies have proven that 3% of hydrogen peroxide is enough to kill pathogens.
The main reason why hydrogen peroxide is the most preferred sterilizer is that it penetrates through the fabric-made Kn95 mask and destroys any remaining pathogen while maintaining the original ability of the facemask to prevent harmful pathogens from finding their way. This method, however, is still not employed by many health care institutions.
Deep the kn95 facemask in a hydrogen peroxide solution for some time; this is all you need to do to make your Kn95 facemask safe.
Cleaning Kn95 Masks Using Heat: A good number of organisms find it hard to survive in extreme temperatures, be it too cold or too hot, and bacteria and viruses are not exceptions. Subjecting pathogens to excessively high temperatures make them inactive. Heating the mask at the defined temperature also maintains its ability to prevent infections.
Heat your Kn95 mask for about 75 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes, and all the damaging pathogens will be gone.
Using UV-light to Clean Kn95: UV-light is one of the contemporary ways of destroying viruses and bacteria. Studies have also revealed that they have the power to eliminate coronavirus. Just like other methods of cleaning Kn95 masks, the UV-light makes pathogens inactive.
You should concentrate UV-light on the Kn95 facemask to kill any foreign viral component.
Using Water and Soap to Clean Kn95: You can clean the mask using clean hot water and soap. To do this;
- Deep your Kn95 mask in clean, warm water with detergent.
- Gently rinse the mask.
- Remove after a few minutes and put it in a drier.
Note that most masks should only be used once before discarding. However, with the limited supply, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, you can reuse the mask but ensure that it is not exposing you to the pathogens. The masks have different periods of use. There are the single-use, masks that are meant for one purpose and a specified period. The extended use masks, on the other hand, can be used for an extended period, especially during the current crisis. The best reuse method is to wash the Kn95 facemask before reuse. Nonetheless, you have to follow specified cleaning methods to ensure that you get rid of all the dirt and germs before getting the mask back on your face.
5 replies on “The Top Best Methods for Washing Kn95 Masks”
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