How Long Can A Surgical Mask Last? How To Deal With It After Use?

As the main personal protective equipment used by medical personnel, medical masks can be divided into medical surgical masks, disposable medical masks and medical protective masks.

Medical protective masks are worn and used by medical staff in special areas such as isolation wards, isolation intensive care units and fever clinics. It is generally recommended that medical protective masks should be replaced every 4 hours. If there is contamination, such as spatter on the surface of the mask or dirt or wet on the inner surface caused by invasive operators, the masks should be discarded and used.

Surgical masks are worn by medical staff to prevent blood and body fluids from spilling during invasive procedures. Its appearance is required to prevent blood and liquid.

Disposable surgical masks are intended to be worn and used in general medical Settings.

It is recommended to wear surgical masks in public places and in work Settings. Disposable surgical masks should be worn in scenes with low density of people

The standard for surgical masks does not specify how long such masks should be used. When used by the general public, it is recommended to prolong the use time according to the use time and use scenarios, such as ordinary drying, to avoid overuse and over-protection, and to avoid causing white pollution. Medical masks used by medical staff are recommended to be replaced every four hours, and should be replaced immediately in a safe area if the masks are damaged or contaminated during use.

How to dispose of discarded medical masks?

Disposal of medical masks can be divided into two categories, mainly considering the environment in which they are used. If it is used in medical and health institutions, it needs to be treated as medical waste; If it is used by the general public in non-medical and health institutions, it can be treated as general household waste.

1. The waste masks generated in medical institutions and the first medical treatment points shall be managed in strict accordance with medical waste, and the waste masks generated in the centralized isolation observation points and home isolation observation points shall be strictly safe-management requirements, and the waste masks shall be collected separately by special personnel and vehicles and transported directly to the domestic waste incineration plant for timely disposal.

2. Waste masks generated in residential areas, office places and shopping malls can continue to be collected and transferred as other garbage in household waste, but the disposal and collection facilities should be strengthened. After entering domestic incineration plants, waste masks may burn differently from ordinary household waste due to their high plastic content and high alcohol concentration.

Therefore, it is necessary to keep up with the maintenance and debugging of key equipment. Emergency drills should be conducted in advance to ensure that incineration facilities can operate during the epidemic prevention and control period, and waste masks should be disposed of in a timely manner. After entering the incineration plant, the domestic waste containing masks is directly incinerated in the furnace to avoid secondary pollution. Equipped with sufficient environmental protection supplies, close monitoring of flue gas emissions, to ensure emissions standards.