Masks’ popularity rises with alert levels

? The latest hype and misinformation coming out of our latest Code Orange emergency preparedness is about a disposable dollar mask made with white cloth and an elastic strap — the N95.

Sold at medical supply and hardware stores, they’re the lightweight, nose-and-mouth respirators designed for medical settings and good for blocking allergens when mowing the lawn. Which begs the question: Can a mowing aid fend off a weapon of mass destruction? How effective would they be in a biological, chemical or nuclear attack?

“Not much, but better than nothing,” says Victor Utgoff, a defense analyst at the Alexandria, Va.-based private Institute for Defense Analysis who has studied gas masks. “They generally protect you from getting particles into your lungs, paint chips and things like that.”

The masks do provide protection against bioterrorism, since the most likely used bacterium would be dispersed in particle form, Utgoff says. In fact, the anthrax mail attacks first spotlighted the N95, as office mailrooms scurried for protective gear.

The N95 rating meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for protection against tuberculosis and anthrax spores, as well as the most foreseeable bioweaponry, which ranges in size from 1.0 to 5.0 microns. So the N95s are more than capable of preventing their inhalation.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a physician and public health expert, upped the masks’ visibility even more recently when he advised that people keep a mask rated N95 or better on hand for each member of the family in his book “When Every Moment Counts.”

Then came Code Orange.

“We’ve had so many people in here, it’s not funny,” says Gloria Stallworth, manager of In-Home Medical Supply in Alexandria, Va., estimating that 20 customers came by Thursday to purchase N95s .

In-Home Medical is selling the cheapest 3M model of N95 masks individually, in one size only, for $2.75.

“People are very afraid. But most of them know it is a temporary fix,” Stallworth said.

The N95 masks have major shortcomings in case of a biological attack, such as a bad fit. A better-fitting model is the mask that has a metal clip for the nose, experts say. The masks are selling briskly in the Washington, D.C., area after the federal government raised the level of terror alertness to Code Orange.

But N95s are no fix if terrorists use chemicals, Utgoff says: “Against chemical attack and gas, worthless.”

Patrick Breysse, an industrial hygienist at Johns Hopkins University, says: “There are respirators that would protect you in those cases, but they are much more expensive and sophisticated.”

Dirty bombs?

“If it’s a dirty bomb with a lot of dust, the respirator would help,” Breysse says. “It would stop you from inhaling those particles. But … you can also get exposed without inhaling anything.”

Even in a biological attack, the masks have major shortcomings. Like fit. Bad fits are deadly. Contaminated air breathed from around the unfiltered edges instead of through the N95-rated material undermines the purpose of a mask.

And, got a beard? “Shave it,” says Breysse, who recommends duct-taping the mask to your face to make a good fit.