Coronavirus Technology Solutions
December 2, 2020

 

Expansion of CATER Mask Production is of Highest Priority

Cleanrooms for Mask Production

New Mask Cleanroom in Wales

Room Air Purifiers Have Their Place

Mask Update from WHO

Netherlands Requires Masks in Indoor Public Places

ANI Constructs Pilot Plant in Kansas

Elastic Cord Replacing Bands for Masks

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Expansion of CATER Mask Production is of Highest Priority

A combination of masks and vaccinations can create herd immunity quickly. It will be a combination of CATER, surgical and medium efficiency cloth masks. It will not include inefficient cloth masks.

Because CATER masks are tight fitting, efficient, comfortable and attractive they will be 93% effective where utilized. It was determined that only one mask would be needed per month and possibly only one per quarter due to reusability. This will be the most cost-effective option. 

Therefore governments would be well served to subsidize a massive CATER mask production program. We have revised our timelines for vaccinations and calculated the CATER mask need

In our previous alerts we used longer time lines for immunization. We also showed the number of disposable surgical masks which would be necessary to achieve herd immunity. These numbers are so large that there is no way enough meltblowns could be produced in the next year to meet the demands. 

On the other hand CATER masks are reusable and can incorporate nanofiber non wovens or membrane media. So the only way masks can make a huge impact on COVID in the short term is with government subsidies for CATER mask suppliers.

If those subsidies are not forthcoming CATER mask suppliers can still make a big contribution by expanding as fast as possible but not beyond  the expected market in 2023 which is $0.8 billion to $2.5 billion just for the wealthiest 10%. 

The present CATER mask revenues are less than $100 million. In fact using a CATER 95 standard the present revenues are below $60 million.  So there is the opportunity for suppliers to grow rapidly.

Assuming the present revenues are $100 million and the 10% wealthiest citizens will spend $800 million for CATER masks based on a 90 day life in 2023, the present revenues are only 12.5% of the 2023 revenues.

This would be an 800% growth rate over just three years. With use of various media and sub-contracting this is an achievement which can be met.

This forecast can be the basis of CATER mask strategy. There will be opportunities to generate additional billions of dollars in sales in the short term. But the risks involved are too great for CATER mask suppliers to pursue independently. 

The Mcilvaine Company, Waterloo Filtration Institute, and Vogmask have initiated a mask rating service. This will show governments that a big investment in CATER masks on a crash basis can be justified. But CATER mask suppliers cannot make  investments on this uncertain potential.

Cleanrooms for Mask Production

One of the  differences between masks used by the public and masks used by medical care personnel is the production cleanliness required. Masks for the public can be produced in facilities used for clothing of any type. Medical masks have to be produced in cleanrooms which are five times cleaner than ambient air. Ambient air is Class 500,000 whereas the medical requirement is ISO 8 or Class 100,000. Two ISO 8 cleanrooms for mask production have just been completed in the UK.

One supplier, Wiskind, says the modular cleanroom is the answer because it can be built quickly.

Compared with the traditional cleanroom, one of the major advantages is the fast construction speed and short construction period. The main advantages of the modular cleanroom environment are the speed and convenience of installation. To achieve standardized production, 70% of the construction tasks are completed in the factory, improving the construction efficiency of cleanroom material production by more than 15%, shortening the construction period by 20% to 40%, and greatly improving the construction quality,

A modular cleanroom requires FFU, floor, sensor, pass box, escape door, air shower, hand washing dryer, clean closet and other cleanroom supporting facilities to choose from. These devices are available from Wiskind. The outsourcing cost and timeliness of enterprise procurement.

The modular cleanroom system construction time will be very short, which fully meets the urgent construction needs of the mask workshop. Another point worth paying attention to is whether the mask workshop can quickly meet the cleanliness requirements after being quickly built. Medical masks, as a type II medical device, require that the cleanliness of the production environment air must meet the 100,000 level requirements.

New Mask Cleanroom in Wales

The urgency of pandemic builds means extremely tight turnaround demands for design and build providers. An example of this is the new 425 sqm cleanroom in Wales that aimed to produce high grade face coverings and masks for front line workers The COVID-19 pandemic and the new government advice/rules on mandatory face coverings has seen a huge rise in demand for face masks.

But how can the UK government satisfy such a large and sustained increase in demand without impacting on the supply of face masks for the countries front-line National Health Service (NHS) staff? The answer: build new state of the art facilities in accelerated time frames. One such facility is located at British Rototherm, in Port Talbot, Wales. Cleanroom Solutions was tasked with the design and build of the brand new, 425 sqm cleanroom. The extreme urgency of the build and difficulties getting construction materials at short notice meant the build programme had to be modified The facility was designed in a matter of days, built in four weeks, with production equipment installed at the end of week four. This proved to be an immense challenge and an even greater achievement, testament to the national effort we have seen throughout this pandemic.  

The facility is an ISO Class 8 cleanroom to ISO 14644-1, which is required for production of high grade face coverings and masks for front line NHS workers. The cleanroom included changing room and goods in/out airlock for production materials. The facility was fully air-conditioned for comfort conditions. Due to the extreme urgency of the build and difficulties getting construction materials at short notice, the build programme had to be modified. The walls were erected before the steelwork and temporally supported until the steelwork was delivered and constructed. The walls were then connected to the steelwork, and this was followed by the suspended ceiling. As soon as a section of ceiling was in place, a second team began working on fitting the fan filter units (FFUs) and lights. Finally, the vinyl floor was laid, enabling the client to start to move their production equipment in. Whilst the equipment was being installed the ceilings were sealed and the room tested and validated.

Cleanroom Solutions Site Director, Sean Gaylard, said: “This has to be one of the most challenging cleanroom installations that I can recall us taking on and completing. In light of the current world pandemic with many manufacturers and suppliers still on furlough, we managed to have the cleanroom ready for the production equipment within four weeks.

Room Air Purifiers Have Their Place

Hannah Smothers writing in VICE says that given the way the virus is believed to linger in the air, floating around in invisible aerosols expelled by infected people, ventilating the air can meaningfully reduce the level of virus in the air. 

Most infectious disease experts recommend simply opening a window to achieve reasonable ventilation if someone in your household has had known exposure to or is infected with COVID-19. But most places across the country are starting to get pretty cold; opening all the windows is no longer an option. And so, air purifiers.

To answer the question of who needs an air purifier, and whether a little machine you can plug in to your wall is a golden ticket to having the whole family over this season (hint: it’s not), VICE spoke with three industrial hygienists, whose entire jobs revolve around keeping the air inside our homes, hospitals, and office buildings safe. 

Depending on the size of the room it’s in and the size of the machine itself, an air cleaner works by exchanging the full volume of air in a room or building a certain number of times per hour (this is known in the particular context as the “exchange rate”). One of the main takeaways is that industrial hygienists and scientists believe the ideal exchange rate for COVID-19 is somewhere between six and 10 times per hour, according to David Krause, a certified industrial hygienist and toxicologist in Florida.

While the exchange rate won’t be listed on device packaging, you can calculate it using the listed clear air delivery rate, or CADR, which should be in the product description or on the box. We’ll get more into the simple math required to do this below.

But some ventilation is better than none, so even if you can’t achieve that—or simply don’t want to buy the handful of devices that may be required to pull this off in your home—a single, small device (or, again, just opening a window) is going to provide some degree of protection. 

It can’t hurt. But consider the value it would provide, based on your current living situation. A good air purifier is expensive, likely somewhere around $200–300. If you have been behaving well, following the rules of masking, social distancing, and minimizing your movement outside of your home, an air purifier may not be worth the cost.

Peter Raynor, professor of environmental health science at the University of Minnesota, said the best use of an air cleaner during COVID-19 would be if someone in your household is infected. “Reducing the level of virus in the air so that other people in the home are less likely to be infected is a really appropriate use of the room air cleaner,” Raynor told VICE. 

Raynor clarified that he wouldn’t qualify an air cleaner as “essential,” in the way that masks and social distancing are. That mostly comes down to cost. If you’re already following the rules of this pandemic, air cleaners are a nice-to-have, rather than a thing-you-should-absolutely-do-to-prevent-mass-infection.

If you decide you need an air cleaner, make sure you get one that has a true HEPA filter. Developed during the Manhattan Project to capture radionuclides, HEPA filters are what you need to capture the tiny particles that contain COVID-19 and other viruses.  

All three industrial hygienists were very clear that it’s not advisable to have family, or any people who don’t live in your household, come over for the holidays or any other occasion at this point in the pandemic. They aren’t alone in this recommendation. The CDC has warned that small, family gatherings are a common venue for spreading COVID-19, and with the holidays coming up, this should serve as a very clear warning. 

But. If you, or your boomer parents, or your anti-masker uncle, absolutely insist on hosting a family gathering this season, having a good air cleaner plugged in certainly helps. 

This is where math comes in. Harvard and the University of Colorado Boulder have a Portable Air Cleaner Calculator you can use to figure out the size of air purifier you should buy for your home. To use it, you need to know the square footage of the room (or rooms) you want to be cleaned, or in other words, measure the square footage of the areas where people will be hanging out in your home. 

Corsi said you’ll likely want something with a CADR around 300. You’ll use this figure to calculate the device’s exchange rate, too. Let’s say the CADR is 300. To find out the exchange rate, take 300 and divide it by the volume of the room you’re trying to clean (meaning length x width x ceiling height). Multiply the resulting number times 60 (as in, 60 minutes in an hour) and you’ll get the exchange rate. While between six and 10 is ideal for COVID-19, anything above three is pretty good, Corsi said. 

He also added that the CADR listed on all air cleaners only applies to when the device is running on its highest setting. Both Corsi and Krause recommended running your air purifier on its highest setting, especially if you have people who don’t live in your household coming over. It’ll be louder, but what’s a little noise in the interest of preventing the spread of a fatal virus?

Krause also added that you should keep your filter in the middle of the room, unobstructed by any furniture, and, if you can, prop it up on a chair or table so that it’s in “breathing space,” or at the same level as everyone’s face and aerosol-spewing mouths/noses. If you have two purifiers in a larger room, put them on opposite sides of the room and prop them up. 

Mask Update from WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued an update to coronavirus mask-wearing guidance for the first time in nearly six months. In the update, the health agency advises wearing a mask as part of “a comprehensive package of prevention and control measures” to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“A mask alone, even when used correctly, is insufficient to provide adequate protection or source control,” the Dec. 1 guidelines said. “Other infection prevention and control (IPC) measures include hand hygiene, physical distancing of at least 1 meter, avoidance of touching one’s face, respiratory etiquette, adequate ventilation in indoor settings, testing, contact tracing, quarantine and isolation.”

The agency further stated that depending on the type of mask used, it can “be used either for protection of health persons or to prevent onward transmission (source control).” WHO recommends that anyone with suspected or confirmed coronavirus wear the mask while in the presence of others and that proper use, storage, cleaning and disposal are essential to effectiveness.

In public, the agency advises using a risk-based approach regarding the use of masks.

“In areas of known or suspected community or cluster SARS-CoV-2 transmission: WHO advises that the general public should wear a non-medical mask in indoor shared workplaces, schools, or outdoor settings where physical distancing of at least 1 meter cannot be maintained,” the guidelines stated. “If indoors, unless ventilation has been assessed to be adequate, WHO advises that the general public should wear a non-medical mask, regardless of whether physical distancing of at least 1 meter can be maintained.”

Regarding children, the agency advised against mask use in those under 5 years of age. Many states in the U.S. have recommended mask use in children over age 2.

“Children aged up to 5 years should not wear masks for source control,” WHO’s guidelines state. “For children between 6 and 11 years of age, a risk-based approach should be applied to the decision to use a mask; factors to be considered in the risk-based approach include intensity of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, child’s capacity to comply with the appropriate use of masks and availability of appropriate adult supervision, local social and cultural environment, and specific settings such as households with elderly relatives, or schools.”

The agency noted that information regarding transmission of coronavirus constantly evolving based on new studies and data made available, and as such, guidelines have to be revised and updated.

Netherlands Requires Masks in Indoor Public Places

The Netherlands has made it compulsory to wear a face mask in indoor public spaces in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus. The country is one of the last in Europe to introduce such a measure. The rule will apply to those over the age of 13 in public buildings such as shops, railway stations and hairdressers from Tuesday.

The Netherlands has been one of the country’s worst affected by Europe's second wave of Covid-19. It broke daily case records throughout October, and the number of new confirmed infections in the country of 17 million has remained fairly stable at about 5,000 a day for several weeks.

The new face mask rule will remain in place for at least three months, with those who ignore it facing a fine of up to €95 (£85; $113).

But there are questions over how the measure will be enforced. Major retail chains have said they will inform customers about the rule but not refuse entry to those without a face covering.

"This is not something which we consider part of our job as shop workers," a spokesman for the Mirage retail group said.

Separately, under the measure, students and teachers will have to wear a mask when moving around school buildings but not during lessons. Teachers who move around the classroom while talking, however, will have to put on a face covering.

Places of worship, such as churches, temples, and mosques, are exempt.

"Making face masks mandatory almost everywhere makes it clearer what the rules are," a government website reads. "[We] want to prevent the spread of the coronavirus."

ANI Constructs Pilot Plant in Kansas

Applied Nanoscience Inc. (ANI), a nanotechnology-based air filtration performance company, announced that construction of a pilot plant has begun in Downs, KS, with direct participation of the Kansas Department of Commerce.  Last month, a wholly owned L.L.C. of the company was awarded a PPE Manufacturing Grant to aid in the global fight against Covid-19. ANI had earlier this year announced the completion of process enhancements to ensure reliable production scale-up of the company’s proprietary antimicrobial NanoFense technology, a U.S. patented nanoparticle formulation. The company is working closely with both Downs Enterprises, Inc. and Kansas State University’s Technology Development Institute (TDI) on the project.

“This award from the Kansas Department of Commerce acknowledges the global need for air filtration companies to offer genuinely protective and higher-performance products. This better positions ANI as an attractive, strategic partner with filter media producers as well as established air filtration product companies who can now fully exploit our technology in efforts to better protect people from harmful pathogens. Our technology, disruptive product design efforts and issued patent protection are all intended to provide more safety to consumers while creating an effective competitive advantage in many markets currently utilizing generic,

untreated filter media,” states Thomas Allen, president and CEO, ANI.

ANI has (16) issued international patents protecting their broad NEFT platform in 13 countries spanning five continents. The patent coverage includes three main methods of associating nanoparticles with filter media: (1) coating the filter media with a powder of nanoparticles, (2) impregnating the nanoparticles into the filter media, and (3) having pellets of nanoparticles located adjacent to the filter media.

Elastic Cord Replacing Bands for Masks

The current pandemic situation around the world has created a critical gap in terms of surgical mask availability. Suddenly many countries have recognized an internal gap for the capacity of manufacturing surgical masks and even at the government level there have been actions to encourage key enterprises to invest in converters and install domestic capacity.

Nevertheless, another gap that has come up is related to the availability of several raw materials.

Many producers are aware of the criticality of applying elastic cord at high speed, being the most common design of masks sourced in Asia.

In addition, elastic cords are replacing the elastic bands in new mask designs. Despite this latter design was much more “process friendly,” especially for high-speed converters, many producers have decided for a more pragmatic approach by simply reapplying the elastic laminated material generally used for other applications, such as diaper elastic back ears.

As a result, many consumers experienced an uncomfortable feeling due to the fact that the elastic characteristics were tailored for a fastening system application. This problem has become even more critical after several hours wearing a mask and it is known as the “dumbo” effect.
In order to eliminate the consumer’s uncomfortable feeling, Texol’s R&D organization has designed “Elamask,” a laminated material intended to show high elongation with low force retraction.

The material is available in a basis weight of 100 gsm and has already been tested on the main mask high speed converter machine proving good runnability and good bonding properties. Most of its customers have already switched to Texol’s “Elamask.”