Even washed up to 10 times, surgical masks remain effective, study finds – BFMTV

These protective masks are usually disposable, discarded after being used once.

Surgical masks “can be reused up to 10 times with a cleaning method between each use,” write in a study published last week in the scientific journal Chemosphere French researchers. According to their results, first identified by The world, the breathability and filtration capacities of these masks are still preserved after 10 washes.

A washed surgical mask remains, according to their study, still more efficient than a category 1 fabric mask, which “provides at least 90% filtration of 3 micron particles”, explains on its website AFNOR (French Association for Standardization).

In this sense, scientists are calling that these single-use masks can now be reused after washing, which “will make it possible to generate 10 times less plastic in the environment”, explains the study.

Modify regulations

For now, the recommendations remain the same: surgical masks are intended to be discarded after use because they are “single use”. It is therefore recommended to throw it away as soon as it gets wet or soiled, explains, for example, a file from the Ministry of Health on wearing a mask during the flu.

Washable masks side, it is recommended to wash them at 60 ° C, as many times as the manufacturer advises.

While it is not yet a question of recommending that healthcare professionals wash their surgical masks, the researchers explain that they have obtained the AFNOR S76-001 standard for non-sanitary type 1 masks, i.e. that of general public fabric masks. Explain The world.

“The next step is now in the hands of the public authorities, to recommend that we can wash surgical masks and convince manufacturers to have their surgical masks qualified as masks for non-sanitary use”, declared to the daily Philippe Cinquin, scientific coordinator of the Grenoble University Hospital Clinical Investigation Center and co-signatory of the study.

When to throw off your mask?

Philippe Cinquin explains that in itself, if their study focused on 10 washes, it is possible that the mask will last longer, so he advises instead to rely on its appearance: when it is damaged and has lint, for example, or when he holds the face less well. On the other hand, the study notes all the same after several washings “a loss of the anti-projection properties” of the mask, for example of the droplets which can transmit the virus.

These initial results could be supplemented in the future by clinical trials “to test the masks under” real life conditions, the researchers stress.

As a reminder, if wearing a mask is an important protective tool in the fight against Covid-19, it is not the only one, and all barrier gestures are important to respect to avoid catching, but also spreading the Covid-19.