Masks during COVID-19 times

Abstract

Since the first incident of COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China, face masks have become an important tool for preventing the spread of COVID-19, and personal protection from contracting the virus. In Mexico, the most used masks are disposable surgical masks, N95, and KN95 filtering masks. However, at the beginning and during the higher contagion stages, due to inadequate information at this time, most people were unable to use the masks, affecting health personnel. In this manuscript, we intend to review the characteristics of the masks, the commonly used manufacturing materials for masks' production, and mechanisms through which the masks work such as the initial impact mechanism, interception mechanism, diffusion mechanism, and electrostatic attraction mechanism; presenting such information with the purpose of explaining the basic but necessary aspects of masks. This is in a bid to prepare the people ready for the appropriate use of face masks of future pandemics such as the one we have now. Finally, the importance of scientific research in understanding the use and development of masks is mentioned.