“Elastomers for us were really game changers,” said Dr. Chalikonda. “Given the millions of dollars wasted on the N95, if you try to reuse them, you’ll see how much elastomer missed the opportunity.”
Federal health officials say they are moving as quickly as possible to create stronger guidance on elastomers. Marian Dalessandro, director of the National Institute for Personal Protective Equipment, said scientists considered feedback from a study that distributed about 100,000 respiratory organs to hospitals, nursing homes, and first responders across the country. He said he was. “If we can act as a guide for the organization and put together a toolkit to educate our users, we hope it helps move the needles,” she said.
Many mask entrepreneurs will not last that long. Max Bock-Aronson, co-founder of Breathe99, which manufactures elastomer respirators on Time magazine’s list of best inventions for 2020, has shut down its Minnesota plant.
He blamed Covid’s fatigue and diminished public interest in protective equipment for the decline in sales. The company’s property was destined early on by the CDC’s mask guidance, and Amazon, Google and Facebook restricted the sale of medical-grade masks to consumers even if PPE imports began to flood the United States again. Or now it is banned.
“The entire industry has been eradicated,” said Bock-Aronson. “Every time we have a new variant, sales increase slightly, but we haven’t taken nickel out of the company since May last year.”
For now, he focuses on finding buyers for his company while selling off his inventory online. The mask costs $ 59 and can be covered with eight washable covers, including crimson, linen and royal blue.
All sales that the website unfortunately points out are final.
