With just a few rubber bands, you give a surgical mask a much tighter—and safer—fit. Until recently, Sabrina Paseman worked at Apple as a mechanical engineer for products such as the MacBook Pro. Now, she and an ex-Apple marketer are trying to tackle a completely different problem: the global shortage of N95 masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read Full Story

This high-end, street-ready mask comes with five-layer filter technology.

The first mask from Masuku doesn’t need to fit tightly to block particles, so it’s more comfortable to wear. Four years ago, long before the pandemic made masks ubiquitous, a U.K.-based startup called Masuku began developing a better face mask to help filter out pollution in smoggy cities. Masks on the market weren’t necessarily comfortable or breathable; they also weren’t sustainable. Read Full Story

We might call this look “bank robber chic.” Have you been worried about how many germs your homemade mask is actually filtering? Researchers have found a simple hack that could boost the effectiveness of any mask, including the DIY one you made from an old T-shirt or tea towel. Read Full Story

This should be required viewing for every American. “Wear a mask.” It’s about as simple as advice gets when it comes to curbing the spread of COVID-19. And yet, people still aren’t listening . Read Full Story

“Knotting and tucking” or using a mask-fitter results in big improvements to the effectiveness of existing masks. The more contagious COVID variant first found in the U.K. is now doubling in prevalence roughly every 10 days in the U.S. At the current pace of vaccination , some people won’t get shots until the end of the year. The collision of the growing strain and our slow vaccination rate is one reason masks are such an important tool now. But with N95 masks still in short supply, the CDC now says that layering two masks can offer similar protection. But it’s not the only solution: just making a surgical mask fit better can also help. Read Full Story

As hospitals run out of protective gear and are forced to use masks over and over, scientists are looking for ways to make masks safer to reuse. This one would let hospitals make a simple machine to squeeze a longer life out of every mask they have. Hospitals still don’t have enough masks for the nurses and doctors on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis—and in the U.S., at least 5,400 healthcare workers have been infected and at least 40 have died. N95 masks aren’t designed to be reusable , but many hospitals are now faced with no other choice. In New York City, nurses have reported being told to use the same mask for five shifts in a row. Read Full Story

When it comes to masks, fit and filtration are the two major issues, and they’re both ripe for innovation. Around the world, masks and personal protective equipment for healthcare workers are running dangerously low as the coronavirus continues to spread. So some fashion brands are stepping in. Read Full Story

The TEAL respirator is clear, reusable, and lights up when it’s fully flush with your face. The science shows that face masks are a key tool in mitigating the COVID crisis. But their effectiveness depends in part on how well they fit, and it can be hard to tell if you have done it right when you put it on. A new mask helps you know, by using sensors that send data to a smartphone app that change the color of heat-sensitive dots when the mask is properly positioned. Read Full Story

These masks are comfortable, washable, and come in adorable prints your kids might actually want to wear Masks are an incredibly easy way to help prevent the spread of disease (namely, COVID-19)—but it’s not always easy to get everyone in your household to wear one. We’re looking at you, kiddos. The CDC advises that children over the age of 2 wear a mask when they cannot maintain adequate distance from another person—because even if your child isn’t ill, they can still transmit viruses. That’s why we’ve found eight different (fun) face masks made specifically for kids that make it just that much easier to get them on board with face coverings. Each of these kids masks is reusable, well-fitting, and perfectly printed and colored to your kids’ liking. Read Full Story