Researchers in Europe have been converting low-cost snorkel masks into respirators to treat patients or protection for medical workers battling to contain the coronavirus outbreak that has stretched healthcare resources.
Medical workers from Motol hospital wear snorkel masks transformed into high-grade protection by researchers from The Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics at Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic March 25, 2020. Picture taken March 25, 2020. FN Motol/Handout via REUTERS
The researchers said that tests had showed the retrofitted masks surpassed the protection of masks carrying FFP3, considered one of the highest grade filters. A Belgian hospital, meanwhile, is testing snorkeling masks as respirators for patients, drawing on an initiative developed in Italy. The Erasmus Hospital in Brussels began working with a local medical device company to develop the masks, known as Easybreath and which cover the entire face.
“We have medical masks but they are single-use, so like much of the world, we are confronted with a shortage of stock,” said Frederic Bonnier, a physiotherapist working on the project, which uses 3-D printing for the tubes to connect masks to oxygen ventilator machines.
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