Background: To reduce the shortage of N95 respirators and surgical masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, stockpiled equipment beyond its expiry date could be released.
Aim: Centralized testing of batches of expired surgical masks and N95 for safe distribution to hospital departments saving users time.
Methods: Tests of compliance with health authority directives were developed and carried out on 175 batches of N95 masks and 31 batches of surgical masks from 12^{th} March 2020 to 16 April 2020. Five quality-control tests were performed on batch samples to check: packaging integrity, mask appearance, breaking strength of elastic ties and strength of nose clip test, and face-fit.
Findings: Forty-nine per cent of FFP2 mask batches were compliant with directives, 32% of batches were compliant but with some concerns and 19% of batches were non-compliant. For surgical masks, 58% of batches were compliant, 39% of batches compliant but with concerns and 3% of batches were non-compliant.
Conclusion: The main areas of non-compliance were the breaking strength of the elastic ties and the nose clip but these alone were not considered to make the masks unacceptable. Only mask appearance and face-fit results were decisive non-compliance criteria.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Surgical masks, Quality control, N95 respirators,