McIlvaine Coronavirus Market Ale

______________________________________________________________________________

If efficient masks were available and worn by everyone, COVID 19 infections could be greatly reduced over the next six months. This requires

Rating System; The role of face masks in mitigating COVID 19 has changed continuously. Initially masks were recommended only for prevention and not for protection. Now there is agreement that masks are essential for protection. The next step in the evolution is to differentiate between those masks which are very effective and those which are not.

The McIlvaine Company has been analyzing the options and interviewing experts on a daily basis since March. These findings are published in Coronavirus Technology Solutions. The conclusions are

· Methods to determine leakage through fit testing have evolved and are reliable

· Potential efficiency reduction due to quality control problems during production and shipping can be quantified

The following examples were calculated based on available information for various types of masks. The net efficiency equals the media efficiency less leaks and defects.

Mask	Efficiency %	Leaks %	Defects	Net Efficiency %
CATER 99	99	-4	-1	94
CATER 95	95	-4	-1	90
CATER 93	93	-4	-1	88
Cloth	60	-40	-5	15
Surgical	95	-40	-1	54
Loose N95	95	-30	-1	64
Tight N95	95	-4	-1	90

Net efficiency is only important if the mask is worn continuously. The use of masks is greatly impacted by the breathing resistance. By subtracting the breathing resistance from the net efficiency, a basic performance rating is created.

Mask Type	Net Efficiency %	Resistance mm H20	Basic Performance Rating
CATER 99	94	14	80
CATER 95	90	9	81
CATER 93	88	8	80
Cloth	15	15	0
Surgical	54	8	46
Loose N95	64	9	55
Tight N95	90	9	81

There are other considerations in a mask purchase. The mask life as measured in hours is one of them. In addition to breathing resistance there are other comfort factors. Attractiveness can be established through user surveys.

Attribute	High	Medium	Low
Life	Hours
Comfort	Very Comfortable	Comfortable	Uncomfortable
Attractiveness	Very Attractive	Attractive	Unattractive

Three types of organizations are necessary to provide purchasers with reliable ratings

One qualified rating organization is the Waterloo Filtration Institute which is providing training and certification in a range of filtration applications.

The McIlvaine company is involved in consulting and analysis and is gathering much of the relevant background material in several of its services.

Vogmask has been producing masks for nearly a decade. It has spared no expense to maximize efficiency and minimize leakage while achieving comfort and attractiveness.

Waterloo Filtration Institute has agreed to create a rating group utilizing experts in the filtration field. This group will review evidence submitted by mask suppliers and provide ratings plus evaluation reports.

Vogmask has agreed to pay for a complete set of ratings including net efficiency, basic performance, life, comfort, and attractiveness.

The McIlvaine Company is supplying evidence extracted from its Coronavirus Technology Solutions and a new service CATER Mask Decisions. This new service covers Comfortable, Attractive, Tight Fitting, Efficient, Reusable masks which can be quickly made available to purchasers. Since the masks can be used for many wearings it is possible to quickly produce sufficient quantities to supply all the needs. This new service is free of charge and will thus allow purchasers to be fully informed.

With a rating system to guide them and ample supplies of reusable masks, purchasers can make mask decisions to greatly reduce the impact of COVID 19.

For more information on the program and McIlvaine services contact Bob McIlvaine at 847 226 2391 or rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com

A charity is raising money to purchase air purifiers for Quebec’s classrooms, citing concern that poor ventilation could increase the spread of the coronavirus.

The Jasmin Roy Sophie Desmarais Foundation has asked for donations from the public to purchase the units, two of which placed inside a classroom, the charity says, would improve air quality and circulation.

Faced with the obsolete ventilation systems in a large number of schools in Quebec, there is an urgent need for action,” Jasmin Roy, the founder and president of the charity, said Monday in a press release. “Winter is already knocking on our doors and soon the cold will prevent the opening of windows, which will increase the risk of spreading COVID-19.”

Quebec Education Minister Jean-François Roberge insisted on Friday that the air quality in Quebec’s schools is adequate. A 22-page report released by the ministry the same day revealed that of 3,227 schools, 1,357 have mechanical ventilation systems that are regularly maintained, but another 1,870 have no such systems and are “ventilated naturally by the opening of windows or other systems favoring the circulation of fresh air.”

Critics disparaged the report because it contained no data on air quality in classrooms.

By contrast, an unofficial study conducted recently by a group called COVID-STOP found that, of 25 classrooms tested with a carbon dioxide meter, 75 per cent exceeded the acceptable level of 700 to 800 parts per million, indicating poor airflow.

Roy’s foundation works to provide safe environments for children in schools, normally focusing on issues like bullying, but when he saw the COVID-STOP study, he decided to act.

Poor ventilation could increase the spread of SARS-cov-2 particles, which cause COVID-19. Live particles of the virus have been found to linger in the air in areas where there is little airflow.

Air purifiers, however, have been touted by some researchers as a potential way to mitigate the spread of the virus indoors.

“It is reasonable to think that in rooms equipped with an air purifier, or well-ventilated, and equipped with UV, the internal infection rate is significantly lower than that found in rooms that do not have it,” a group of researchers wrote in a study published in the early days of the pandemic in the Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents.

The Biopür purifiers, which will be purchased by the Jasmin Roy Sophie Desmarais Foundation, are assembled in Quebec by Sanuvox Technologies Inc., a Montreal company. They use a combination of high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration and ultraviolet light to trap and destroy viruses and other airborne pathogens.

Jocelyn Dame, the president of Sanuvox, said the global demand for his company’s products has increased six fold since the start of the pandemic.

Portable units provide a good alternative for classrooms without ventilation systems, Dame said. He added he resents that the government is dragging its feet with regard to ventilation in school and downplaying the aerosolized spread of the virus.

Healthing.ca, is a destination for the straight facts on symptoms, diseases and treatments as well as smart takes on the latest health trends, research and the people who are disrupting health care as we know it. Laura Hensley is a writer with Healthing.ca. and has written an article showing that some masks are better than others. McIlvaine comments are in italics.

A new study by the American Institute of Physics analyzed existing research on face masks and summarized their findings on which designs best filter or block out infectious coronavirus particles. Here’s what they found.

Not all masks are created equal, even though wearing a mask is much better than not wearing one at all. Masks range from homemade cloth ones, blue surgical masks, N95 respirators and store-bought three-layer woven designs. Experts advise Canadians wear three-layer masks.

If you’re going out into a crowded mall or grocery store, you want to sport a mask that offers both you and others as much protection as possible. How effective a mask is at blocking out infectious coronavirus particles depends on two things: the size of the particle and the design of the mask.

If someone who has the coronavirus talks, sneezes, coughs or even breathes, they expel infectious droplets that can spread the virus to other people. Large droplets are the most common, the study reported, but smaller droplets can become aerosolized and remain suspended in the air.

Non-medical cloth masks can reduce droplet spread, as they protect both the wearers and those around them. Only N95s block aerosols, the researchers wrote, because the masks filter out 95 per cent of particles.

Surgical masks, on the other hand, are fluid-resistant, and are designed to catch large respiratory droplets that are released when someone coughs or sneezes. These blue masks should cover the nose and mouth properly, but there is a chance of leakage around the mask’s edges during the inhaling and exhaling processes, the study reported.

“Such a dynamic leakage allows the direct contact of fluid droplets from the outside air to the wearer and vice versa,” researchers wrote, adding that surgical masks may not provide great protection against extremely fine aerosols or droplets.

How comfortable a mask is depends on its fabric and design. Everyone knows how uncomfortable it can be to wear a mask made of scratchy fabric.

Researchers analyzed fabrics for their breathability. They found that masks made of hybrid polymer materials “could filter particles at high efficiency while simultaneously cooling the face.”

Furthermore, researchers looked at face mask fabric studies and found that materials including natural silk, chiffon weave (made of 90 per cent polyester and 10 per cent Spandex), and flannel provided “good electrostatic filtering of particles.”

Fabric with tighter weaves and low porosity, like cotton with a high thread count, offer better filtration. Bandanas and neck fleeces were not found to be very effective and “offered little protection against infection,” researchers wrote, based on their materials and designs. Because of the nature of fleece, it tends to break up larger particles into many little ones, according to previous research previous research out of Duke University in North Carolina.

In case this needs to be hammered home again: masks help curb the spread of COVID-19. Health experts across Canada have continually stressed the importance of masks in public, indoor spaces and whenever physical distancing cannot be kept outside.

The American Institute of Physics researchers reviewed epidemiological studies that looked at whether face masks reduce the effective reproduction number (the transmission potential) of COVID-19. They used COVID-19 data from New York state and found that if the reproduction number drops below one, the pandemic stops spreading.

“The results suggest that the consistent use of efficient face masks, such as surgical masks, could lead to the eradication of the pandemic if at least 70 per cent of the residents use such masks in public consistently,” Sanjay Kumar, one of the study’s authors said in a statement.

“Even less efficient cloth masks could also slow the spread if worn consistently.”

This article is an example of the evolution of reporting which now shows the differences in mask performance. However, the big differences between masks are not communicated here. McIlvaine will be contacting this group and offer free access to CATER Mask Decisions.

Porous Materials Inc. (PMI), USA provides instruments to manufacture, test and analyze Pore characterization of Nanofiber Nonwoven and testing of Face Mask, Lab coats.

Nanofiber nonwovens are finding increasing applications in the filtration industry particularly in processes involving biotechnology. For such applications, pore volume is very important. Through pore diameter, pore throat diameter and permeability are also important pore structure characteristics. Nanofiber mats are normally sensitive to pressure and are often brittle. Therefore, the characterization technique should be such that the pore structure is not distorted. In this investigation, the applicability of the techniques, Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry, Liquid Extrusion Porosimetry and Liquid Extrusion Flow Porometry for pore structure characterization of nanofiber mats have been investigated. www.pmiapp.com

In May 2020, three key companies within the face mask supply chain joined together to form the Mask-Alliance Bavaria: Sandler Group, a high-tech producer of nonwovens from Schwarzenbach/Saale, PIA Automation, an automation specialist from Amberg, and Zettl Group, leading supplier of products for automotive interiors from Weng. From base material, to machinery, to the production of the finished product, they set up an entire value chain for the manufacture of face masks in Bavaria. The overriding objective of the alliance is to ensure increased safety and quality standards and security of supply for personal protective equipment in the country even beyond the corona pandemic. A dependence on foreign suppliers should be avoided in future. Moreover, sustainable product solutions and maximum recyclability are focal topics.

With a view to increasing effectiveness, safety, usability, as well as the sustainability of face masks new materials and procedures are continuously being tried and tested. In order to further advance this development new partners want to join the Mask-Alliance Bavaria.

Professor Clarissa Prazeres da Costa, infectiologist, senior physician for medical microbiology and infection epidemiology, and co-director of the Center of Global Health of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and her colleague Magnus Fröhling, professor for Circular Economy at TUM, as well as professor Franz-Xaver Reichl, microbiologist, pharmacologist and toxicologist, of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU), and product safety experts from the team of Jörg-Timm Kilisch of the German organization DEKRA, want to contribute their comprehensive know-how to the development of new medical masks.

Bayern Innovativ (Bavaria innovative), an organization that facilitates innovation and knowledge transfer in the state, supports the alliance in identifying suitable funding programmes and in developing further competences within the scope of its cluster and networking activities.

The intended close cooperation of member companies, research institutions and testing authorities aims to bring together the specific key competences and enable a swift transfer of knowledge and technology to small and medium-sized enterprises, the medical sector, and standardization. Insights obtained from this cooperation could also be applied to protective masks for kids or to a second generation of simpler mouth-nose-protection masks.

With these endeavors, the Mask-Alliance Bavaria is taking the next steps towards quickly and focally advancing mask development and production in Bavaria.

North Carolina State University’s Nonwovens Institute (NWI) received a six-month, approximately $400,000 grant from The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) to investigate improving the properties of materials they’re using for masks and respirators.

Ultimately, the researchers’ goal is to enhance the materials in order to boost performance and production capacity.

“The idea behind the grant is to improve the performance of the materials we are currently producing,” says Behnam Pourdeyhimi, executive director of NWI, Associate Dean and William A. Klopman Distinguished Professor and the project’s principle investigator.

N95 respirators and surgical masks are generally a sandwich of one or two common nonwoven layers – so-called “spunbond” layers that provide mask strength and protect the inner filtration layer – and a nonwoven meltblown material that filters microscopic unwanted particles like viruses and bacteria.

Because of the current critical need for masks caused by Covid-19, Pourdeyhimi and his NWI team created a new spunbond material that can serve as a filter without the need for a meltblown filtration layer. The unique fabric is composed of two different polymer materials that are combined to make a single fiber with significant strength and bulk, along with microfibers of a similar size to the normal meltblown filters. The new material has similar effectiveness to current filtration materials.

Since the start of the pandemic, NWI has been producing between 150,000 to 180,000 meters of this unique filter medium per week using its state-of the-art pilot facilities located at NC State’s Centennial Campus at the Center for Technology and Innovation.

To meet the demand for masks that can be worn by the general public, researchers are making single-layer masks out of the spunbond material. One of the objectives of the project funded by NIIMBL is to improve NWI’s spunbond material to meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards for surgical masks for particle filtration and fluid resistance.

“You want a mask that’s not too thick and too warm, and easy to breathe through,” Pourdeyhimi says. “What we want is a single layer that meets FDA requirements, and is not built on the meltblown filtration layer that is in short supply.”

NWI has also developed a new meltblown filtration media in its fight against Covid-19. Pourdeyhimi said his team is working around the clock five days per week to make the meltblown filtration material. NWI produces approximately 120,000 meters per week of the material.

One of the objectives of the NIIMBL grant is to improve the meltblown material that goes into three-layer surgical masks as well as into N95 respirators, which are designed to filter more than 95% of airborne particles at 0.3 microns.

“Part of this grant is focused on reducing the weight of the filters without adversely impacting the performance of the filter – using less fabric would increase the available capacity,” Pourdeyhimi says.

Medline will begin making face masks at its Lithia Springs, GA plant and anticipates production on level-1 ear loop procedure masks will begin in January, with a second production line expected to launch later in 2021. When the two lines are fully operational, Medline estimates it will produce 36 million face masks per month.

"Throughout the pandemic, Medline has been laser-focused on implementing new ideas to combat the national shortage of medical supplies. In particular, our customers have a critical need for readily available face masks. This is a significant capital investment in one of our largest manufacturing facilities that will increase the number of face masks Medline can offer to healthcare facilities and diversifies our PPE supply chain," says CEO Charlie Mills.

More than 30 healthcare providers spanning hospital systems, skilled nursing facilities and homecare providers committed to purchasing the made-in-America face masks as part of Medline's North American Manufacturing Expansion initiative, including Bon Secours Mercy Health, University of Washington Medicine, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Geisinger, Encompass Health, Wisconsin Illinois Senior Housing and CVS Pharmacy.

"In order to provide whole-person care to everyone who trusts us for their health care needs, it is crucial that our more than 80,000 team members have access to critical PPE at all times," says Marisa Farabaugh, SVP and Chief Supply Chain Officer, AdventHealth. "This expansion marks an important step in domestic manufacturing within the healthcare supply chain to ensure future resiliency and improves our ability to keep our providers, team members and patients safe."

This is the second U.S. manufacturing expansion by Medline. In April, the company launched hand sanitizer production at its Hartland, WI plant to help meet a nationwide shortage. Medline redeployed manufacturing capabilities in that facility to produce the 80% ethyl alcohol-based hand sanitizer and retrofitted one of its production rooms for the new product. The company also shifted manufacturing focus in its Meriden, CT plant to manufacture alcohol gel packets during the height of the shortages.

The Lithia Springs, GA location originally opened in 2011 and expanded in 2018. Currently, it produces incontinence products, including adult briefs, baby diapers, underpads and other products used in personal care and will continue to do so after the upcoming expansion. The plant currently employs 420 team members and will add 40 more employees to work on the new face mask lines.

The Medline expansion in Lithia Springs enhances its already robust North American manufacturing footprint. The company has 20-plus manufacturing facilities currently producing lotions, infection prevention products, patient plastics, textiles, raw materials and incontinence products.

The latest expansion in Georgia was made possible in part by a $6 million contract awarded to Medline by the U.S. Department of Defense to increase domestic production capability for face masks.